What a day!

Last night, I ate dinner un-interrupted never having to get up. 

I actually had conversation with my man while we enjoyed some wonderful food.....

Oh, I then enjoyed my favorite Marble Slab icecream. Rasberry w/rasberries in a waffle cone. 

Not too sweet, JUST right. 

I didn't even have to share it. Well, hubs did take ONE bite! :winky:

Then I went to bed early......which is usually unheard of when I'm at home.  I had NO itching. PTL!!!!!

And I unplugged the clock.

So...TODAY, I slept in. Happy Birthday to me! :happy:

So late that the place I wanted to eat breakfast at wasn't serving it anymore!!!!

But that's ok, I needed SLEEP so much more than food!

But we still got a delicious cinnamon roll & latte's to tie us over. 

It was to celebrate our Engagement Anniversary 10 years ago TODAY!

(Seth proposed to me at breakfast!!! That's a story in itself!)

Then we went and saw a movie....with some FREE passes we had. 

We were the only ones in the theatre!

Good thing, because my dear husband laughed almost continuously!

And I didn't have to be embarrassed!

We had no one to take our pic, AND it was raining outside, but we took one anyway. 

 

Then we spent some time shopping w/out kids in tow. Man, that sure was a different experience!!!!

And my man got me such a FUN birthday gift....to use with my no-longer-lost camera!

We ate real Mexican food, served to us by a waiter who I could barely understand. 

 

 

GREAT place!  And what a FUN way to spend my birthday!

 

Even if my hubs likes to wear 2 pairs of glasses! (At least he has a winning smile!!!)

 

Then I got to come home to my favorite little people!  

Thanks mom, for watching them for 24 hours!!!! You're the BEST!  

(I wouldn't even be having this BIRTHday without you. Love you!)

And my responsible daughter & "little mother" was SO much help while we were away.

 

The above pic was taken with my birthday present, a new camera lens, a 50m 1.8. A real up close and personal lens. 

Already loving it....I was told I would. 

But I LOVE even more these precious people in my life! Being 33 wouldn't be worth it otherwise, I don't think!

 

I got "tackled" ....I mean hugged, by these energetic boys when I got home!

 

 

 

Boy, these kiddos sure got their dad's winning smile!!!!!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I'm beyond blessed. 

GOD IS GOOD....ALL the time!

It's no longer my birthday, 33 years have come & gone!

It's now the birthday of our country!!!!!

Happy 4th of July!

Slideshow from the North Carolina mountains

I am trying something new with my pictures to see how it works! ENJOY!

Answer to prayer!

After praying, trusting, and waiting last week, we got a call at 11:25 pm on Thursday night from the security guard at the river park. Someone at the river park found the camera bag on SATURDAY night, apparantly just after we left, so a local, and knew just who to give it to. So, he, the security guard had it since Sat. but didn't know whose it was!!!!! (Get that! God had answered my prayer before I even knew it had gone missing and started to pray about it!!!!)  

The security guard had been down to the park Thursday night and saw all the signs I'd placed out there. He had actually since then charged up the camera battery and gone through the pictures trying to find a way to figure out whose it was. There were pics left on there of the trip, and one of the van, so he was going to run a check on the license of the van.  

Anyway, I just couldn't believe he had it! There was also a chair left with it! Somehow Seth had forgotten to load a chair AND the camera bag!!! He says he must have really really been out of it!!!! And amazing he didn't run it over pulling away from that parking space. Seriously, a miracle. Although I was SO sad over this all week, I felt God's peace. I was so bummed, but yet not worried. HE just wanted me to trust Him. And to learn to rest, to wait, to have hope. I'm still amazed.  

Anyway, just wanted everyone to share in our happiness, relief, and an answer to prayer! And thanks to those who knew of this and prayed.  

Sleep well. God is good. ALL the time!  

He even cares about cameras, pictures, videos and such......HE cares about me.  

And here are some of my favorite pics of the cousins on our beach trip!

First they were looking into the sun, which obviously wasn't the best idea!

So, we got the backsides of them instead!

Still Memories~

On our trip we took quite a bit of video. But it is now lost. Barring a miracle, lost forever. Or someone has it, and it means nothing to them.

This past Saturday evening when we were at a family birthday party at the river, my camera bag (& it's contents.....which included my rebel xti camera, 2 lens, and our new canon digital video camera, and all the memory cards for both) was accidentally left in the parking lot instead of getting loaded up in the car with the rest of our things.  

I remembered asking my dear husband to put it in the car as he was loading up, but sadly he remembers hearing that maybe, but not doing it. Nor did he unload it with everything else when we got home. I was quite sick still on Sunday and it never even crossed my mind. By the time I needed the camera on Monday morning, I noticed it was no where to be found.  I have since called the security at the river park, every family member & friend who was there with us, gone to the parking lot myself and posted 8 "LOST" signs at the park entrance and throughout the nearby neighborhood. So far, no calls. I am hoping an honest person picked it up and just didn't know what to do with it and Lord willing will see one of my many bright big signs out there! 

I AM thankful that I had downloaded ALL my pictures from the trip! But we hadn't had a chance to download any of the video. We took some of where we got married, special places Seth visited many times when he was a boy, lots of family members who we probably won't see again, and other fun family stuff we did. But, still memories will have to do for this trip. And now I don't know when I will be able to replace any of it, so I won't be capturing memories anytime soon myself. 

I AM thankful that I lost "just" my cameras at the river and not a child or something. Always look on the bright side, right? 

And I'm more than bummed about what I've lost, but happy that I have some really special pictures still. 

These are of the church where we got married, outside of Pell City, Alabama (near Birmingham) almost 10 years ago. 

 

It was fun going there w/the kids and having OUR daughter take the pics! 

And now we are a family of 6! (Although it sure was hard to get us all in with me holding the camera!)

A BIG Thank You!

To all the friends & family that hosted us, loved us, played with us, and served us throughout the past weeks on our trip!  Thanks for the beds, spots on the floor, fun & fellowship, conversations, singing, & yummy food (Although I think I'm not going to want hot-dogs for quite some time now. I think we counted we had them at least half a dozen times! It seemed to be the easiest most "fun" meal to fix for our family as we traveled through!) :winky:

We had a wonderful time seeing everyone and all of you mean SO SO much to us! We are VERY blessed to have such wonderful friends and family and it makes all the miles we traveled SO worth it!

I got to meet some of my cousin's spouses for the first time, some of my long-time friends adorable children, and even meet new family members.  The youngest being my sweet nephew, Ian, who is 9 months old and the oldest family member we saw was a cousin of Seth's Granny, who is 102 years old! He knew exactly who we were, where we lived, and was alert and talkative the 30 minutes we spent with him. He even told us he's see us next time we were through there! (which who knows when that will be!)

How fun it was to see.....

....a dear friend I met in Russia 15 years ago, Michelle (& meet her adorable 4 girlies!)

....another family who I've known since I was 9 years old, the Clements, who have a special place in my heart

....Holland, who was the ring-bearer in our wedding almost 10 years ago (& he's now 16!)

....an old roommate & friend of Seth's, Vic Carpenter, from the Boone, NC days (& his family!)

....wonderful cousins & aunts & uncles that we hadn't seen in YEARS! We had a blast at the beach & the mountains!

...."Aunt Cassidy" & her husband & soldier, Andrew, re-united

....and the kids finally meeting Andrew, who they couldn't help but call him "uncle" :happy:

....some of my dear girlfriends, Amy, Kari, & Cindy (& their families) who have meant to much to me especially the past 3 1/2 years

....fun friends that the kids just LOVED

....dearest friend, Joanna & her awesome kids! (& hubs too)

....former Wakefields & former Prescotts :winky:

....Seth's old pastors when he was growing up, the Bracketts & Woodys 

....kids I used to babysit!

....that Tiffany got to see a bunch of dear little girl-friends, which was so special for her!

....and other friends of friends that we got to meet was a bonus too!

Like I said, we are blessed. Blessed to have these people in our lives, and grateful for them allowing us to stop in on theirs for either 30 minutes or a few days! :happy: