Most Special Gift

We celebrated Christmas with my parents and my sister and Paul today. My sister gave me the most special gift! First of all, you must know that she and I are both 'die-hard' Audio Adrenaline fans even though they are in 'retirement'. The second thing you need to know is that two years ago I made an album for her at Christmas called "Over 100 Childhood Memories"- which made her cry a lot! (I think she's wanted to get me back ever since then!)

Now that you are brought up-to-speed, here is what happened! I had run to Food Lion to get some Orange soda for Paul (his favorite) then I rushed home because I remembered that I had left the house with an apple cake in the oven!!! Matt was home but didn't know the cake was done! So I flew back up the driveway and my sister and Paul were already here. I jumped out of the car, ran inside and took the cake our of the oven(just in time!) and then went to bring in the sodas!

My sister was waiting for my attention! Then she asked if I had a minute so we could get on the computer! She told me to go online to lyrics.com and play the video for Audio A's 'Ocean Floor'. I had never seen the video although I know the words by heart! The song talks about how God takes all of our sin away and casts them on the ocean floor. In the video, people from all walks of life find seashells in their path and they take them to the ocean and cast them in as a symbol reminding them that God has separated their sins as far away as the ocean floor! Then she presents me with 'the gift', a HUGE conch shell with this engraved:

YOUR SINS ARE FORGOTTEN
THEY'RE ON THE BOTTOM
OF THE OCEAN FLOOR

Of course, I busted out crying and gave her a big hug! Well, a bunch of big sobbing hugs! This is a most special gift that I will always cherish! But she is the real treasure! A sister's love is immeasurable! She is the greatest gift that my parents ever gave me- a sissy-poo to be there through all the good, fun, hard, sad, and tough times!

A Dog's Life!

Tonight, I went to put my puppy to bed when I found him already in bed! Isn't he precious! I said a quick prayer that he'd stay just like that until I got back with the camera! The soccer ball is the first toy we ever got him and took it with us when we picked him up and rubbed his mom and siblings' scent on it. It has long since been washed but he still loves it! The purple dog was a gift to Sunny from my friend Lori!


Okay, here is a picture from Thanksgiving Day to show you just how much Sunny LOVES his toys! Mom picks them all up and puts them in his basket and then he pulls them all right back out again! Although, I am thankful that he knows what is his and what is moms!

Here is some pampering if I ever saw it! Freshly bathed and dried and now getting furminated! We should have taken a picture of the small dog that was removed from him!!!!!

I love this picture though because he is chewing his rawhide and enjoying the good life of being pampered and to top it off, his little ear had flipped back all on it's own!

And now, for my little Court Jester! I forgot to post this with the Halloween Pictures! Even Sunny had to dress up too! I love this silly puppy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Take a moment today reflect on what you have to be thankful for!
My day has started great! I was awakened to the 'beep' of the crockpot, letting me know my 'crockpot turkey' is done and that gives me plenty of time to enjoy the day and take time to be thankful!
I stumbled across a blog entry today of someone that I don't even know but I quite enjoyed it and thought I would post a link here for you in case you are interested in reading a little bit about being thankful today! It is beautifully written & heartfelt:

http://joshuaminso.blogspot.com/2008/11/turkey-day.html

Little Hassles

Today our heat pump decided to freeze up! Instead of calling the folks to come out and check it out which is automatically $90- I decided to just turn it off and open all the windows and let the air flow through today. It was gorgeous outside! A couple of hours ago, it looked like the heat pump was pretty much thawed out but we have decided to just leave it off until tomorrow. So we have all the windows open now and we can hear the crickets, tree frogs, and such. I love it! The clean crisp air and the cool autumn breeze combined with the symphony outdoors reminds me of my Grandmoms house! If only I had crisp, clean, cool, super-tight tucked sheets on my bed, I'd really feel like I was at her house! Just as a side note, I definitely have the best grandma in the world! Tonight, I will take a step back and just relax and enjoy the melody of sounds and the sweet breeze rolling through.

Where have I been?

We went to Duck, NC for a week. We have stayed there every year in September for the past five years. The first year we only stayed a few days and it was really nice, just a little windy. The second year, the weather was great. But the past three years, the weather has been just a little bit worse each time. We had 50mph winds that I thought were going to rip the roof off of the house! The tide was reaching all the way up to the dunes and as far as the eye could see, there were huge waves all the way to the horizon; some at 12-15ft. Nevertheless, we had a good week. We rode a ferry to Ocracoke to see the lighthouse there- it's become a traditional to visit a different lighthouse each time. The lighthouse was very small and we couldn't go in it but the ferry was the highlight of the day. My dad (pause for a second, anyone who knows my dad is now thinking, "oh lord") :) Back to the story: My dad decided that it would be fun to hold up pringles for the seagulls to snatch out of our hands while riding the ferry! And it was fun to watch. I knew they were getting their fingers nipped and I wasn't sure that I wanted any part of that! On the ferry ride back, I decided to try it. Of course, every time one would swoop down, I would freak and either drop the chip or decide to throw it instead! It was hilarious! My sissy-poo who is much braver than I did a much better job!

We also went to see the movie "Eagle Eye" which was good but slammed with ACTION!! So much so that I wished I had a remote to pause the movie for just a second to get my bearings! Matt and I both love Shaia LeBeouf and he did a fantastic job in this movie! We are praying that he stays decent in Hollywood and doesn't turn trashy!
My sis and I had fun singing songs in the car like we did when we were little, "Do-Wacka-Do" song, "Ya can't roller skate in a buffalo herd", "Are we there yet?", and so on...
At one point in our singing, My sister stops and says, "When we get together with mom and dad and we're riding around singing, it makes me feel like we're kids again." Then as she turns to look over at Matt sitting next to me, she says, "And then I look over and think 'Who's that?!?' and I'm brought back to reality!" I thought that was so cute!
The good news about vacation is that we stuck to our healthy eating habits and exercised everyday- even when it was pouring cats and dogs, we did our cardio workout by running up and down two flights of stairs for 20 minutes, needless to say- that was exhausting!

I'm so glad we finally got our minds back into being healthy! It is such a battle of the mind more than anything else!

Brent survived taking care of the house while we were gone and we came back to it all being in one piece- thankfully :) and the chins were alive and well!
Sunny was so much fun at the beach! He loved the sand- World's Largest Sandbox! It put Uncle Mike's Sandbox to shame! ;) But although his breed is a 'water dog'- he had NO interest in the water AT ALL! Not at the ocean and not at the pool, we got him in the pool a couple of times, one time, I threw him in and then held his belly while he kicked his feet- he was all about getting to the side so he could get out. The funny thing was that he wanted to get in with us bc he would cry but once he got in, he didn't like it! I think more than anything, he wanted his people "OUT". I will say that the pool was FREEZING but we wanted to at least try to get him in it!

Matt and I believe this was our last vacation to Duck in September. The weather has been so rotten and we're ready for a change. I don't know where we'll vacation next year but we probably will not be at Duck. My parents felt the same way with the weather and they haven't had a vacation just the two of them in a long time so I think dad is planning to take mom somewhere just the two of them. I'm not sure what Sandy and Ronnie plan to do but I think they were disheartened by the weather as well.
Even with the weather, it was a good vacation, we're just ready for something different.

GAS CRAZE!

Ok, today was crazy! There's tell of gas prices skyrocketing due to the hurricane! The gas stations were insane! I was driving and trying to snap a few pics so here they are. Not too good of pics but anyway, I thought I'd share.
When Matt and I got to Sheetz in MH, there were cops at both entrances directing traffic! If it was too full, they made you just drive by so the road wouldn't be stopped up! Once we got in, it was so crazy! Unfortunately, I was so overwhelmed by it all, I didn't take any photos there!

Chinnie Treat Time!

The chins know when it is treat time! I had to run and grab my camera when they were all begging! I was laughing like crazy! I have definitely fallen in love with them again! It's nice now that there room truly only has their cage and their supplies in it! The last pic is when they have their shreddies, they have all run off to their seperate places to devour the goodies!