Unexpected Guest

While Joel was in Yuma, I bought two ferns to hang on our front porch. Not long after he came back home, Joel was watering them and he noticed a small bird's nest in one of them. A few days later we found five little blue eggs. Now one of the five eggs have hatched and we have a cute little bird and a dead fern. The proud parents are red-headed finches.

Gone Fishing

Last Sunday afternoon, Joel and I went fishing at Eleven Lakes in Maysville. Joel bought me a pink and purple fishing rod and we used crickets for bait. Although I have to admit, Joel had to put every cricket on the hook and take the fish off after I caught them, we both had a lot of fun and caught a lot of fish. Joel caught fifteen and I caught twelve.

Praise the Lord,

after two long months Joel is FINALLY back home!! He came home on May 1st and to our advantage and surprise, his flight arrived early. Although I thought it was going to be the longest day of my life it actually went by extremely fast. We did not get home from the airport until sometime after 8 p.m. and not only was I excited to see Joel, but the dogs were so excited to see their Daddy too. Troy could not stop barking and howling and Tazzy was wagging his tail so much his whole body was moving.

Saturday, we slept in and then Joel, Matt and I went fishing at Pole Cat Farms which is a place nearby that has several ponds supposedly full of catfish, small bass, and brim.

Although Joel was the only one to catch anything and it rained off and on most of the time we were there, we still had a lot of fun. Also, Saturday was Tazzy first birthday so since we had a birthday blowout for Troy, Tazzy had to have a birthday celebration too.

We blew up balloons, bought birthday cookies, a squeeky toy and treated Tazzy to a birthday steak. Sunday was a pretty relaxing day and Joel and I went to play golf. Joel was finally able to put all the clubs he bought while he was gone as well as his anniversary present (a putter) to use. As we both had imagined the weekend flew by and it was already time to start getting ready for the work week.

Some updating..

I did not realize it had been such a long time since the last post. A lot has happened during that time. To start off, I quit my job and now have a new job, Joel turned another year older, Joel left to go to Yuma, Arizona for two months, I was able to go with most of my family to Las Vegas to watch my cousin, Erin, get married and my parents came to visit and spend time with me during my mom's spring break.

After lots of prayer and God giving me the strength to trun in my two weeks notice, I decided to quit my previous job. Although I was worried about going insane from having nothing to do during the day or being able to find a new job, I was happier and more of myself than I had been in a while. A week after my last day, I turned in my application to the Child Development Center on New River (which is the same base where Joel works) and not long after I got a call to come for an interview. The interview was long and they asked me what seemed like every question possible for working with and teaching children. Then to my surprise a day and a half later they called offering me the job. I am so excited about this job and thank God for answering my prayers!

Joel had a great birthday weekend! To start off the weekend, Mr. Warren drove up to surprise Joel for his birthday and spend the weekend with us. Saturday, I woke up early to go for a job interview and while I was gone Joel and Mr. Warren played a round of golf. Once we all were back home, Joel opened all of his presents and cards and we enjoyed eating his cookie cake. Overall, Joel had somewhat of a relaxing birthday weekend and that was exactly how he wanted it.

About a week after Joel's birthday, we found out that Joel definitely had to go to Yuma, Arizona for two months and this was not what either of us were hoping to hear. When the day came for him to leave, I took him to the airport and we said our good-byes. As I am holding back the tears driving home, Joel sends me a text message to come back and get him. I thought he was playing a horrible joke on me and continued driving home until I knew he was being serious. Well, it was not a joke. His flight was cancelled and we were so happy to spend another day together. Then the next morning we wake up at 4 a.m., drive to the airport and once again his flight was cancelled. They assign him another flight for later that day and believe it or not it was cancelled as well. We were both starting to get our hopes up and think he was not going to leave after all, but the fourth time was a charm and instead of leaving March 1st he left on March 3rd. Troy, Taz, and I are all ready for him to be back home and I am happy he is almost half way through with what he is having to do while he is there.


The weekend after Joel left for Arizona, I made a last minute decision and went with most of my mom's side of the family to Las Vegas to watch Erin and Ron get married. It was a quick trip, but we had a lot of fun and were able to do a lot in a just a weekend. The day we arrived, my parents, Uncle David and I checked into the hotel and then met up with Larry and Shelia to eat lunch and explore Vegas. Although at times my mom and I had to pry my dad off the slot machines, we all got lots of laughs and I was happy that I was able to go shopping with my mom again during our spare time. Erin was an absolute beautiful bride and I really enjoyed being able to spend time with my mom and dad and my family that was able to come!


Last but not least, last week my parents were able to come and spend the whole week with me. The first day they were here my mom and I went shopping in Wilmington for my dad's birthday and after we found everything we thought he would like did a little extra shopping we ate dinner and headed back to Jacksonville. The next day was my dad's birthday and since it was rainy we spent most of the day at home, but bought him an ice cream cake and took him out for dinner at Red Lobster that night. The next few days it continued to rain so we rented some movies and I enjoyed being able to relax and hang out with them. When the rain finally stopped, we decided to take on what I thought was going to be a small project, but turned out to be harder work than I thought it would be. Although my dad did most of the work, my mom and I helped as much as we could. We cleaned up the flower bed area in front of our house and pulled out all of the weeds, cleaned up the area around all of the bushes, poured mulch over the areas we cleared out and planted some flowers. Our front yard looks so much better now! Toward the end of the week, we made another trip to Wilmington to go to a few places we wanted to go the first time, but ran out of time. Again I was really happy that my mom and I could go shopping together just like we did all the time before I moved to North Carolina. The last day they were here, I had asked my dad to help me make sure I knew how to cut our grass with a push mower since I had never used one before and since Joel is gone I am the lucky one that has to do it. To my surprise, it was not as hard as I thought it would be and after my mom and dad gave me some tips the grass was cut in no time. The time they were here seemed to fly by, but I really enjoyed spending time with them and were glad they both had vacation so they could come.

Baby it's cold outside...

Joel and I are so excited! It snowed in Jacksonville!! Yesterday when we heard it was snowing in Alabama, we were hoping we would get snow too, even if it was just snow flurries. Starting around 8 A.M. this morning, I called Joel from work to tell him to look out the window at the snow and it has been snowing ever since. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Our first Christmas seemed to somewhat relate to the Griswold's Christmas Vacation. On the morning of Christmas Eve, Joel, Troy, Taz and I began our journey to Birmingham. Just to give a mental image, our car was packed to the ceiling with just enough space for Joel to see out of the back window, Taz was in his crate and Troy in my lap. After stopping every two hours to let the dogs go to the bathroom and for me to walk around, we finally made it Birmingham a little over ten hours later. Luckily, we made it back home just in time to spend Christmas Eve at Joel's Memaw and Big Daddy's house with all of the Warren's. The night was filled with all the kids opening presents, dinner, our dogs running crazy throughout Memaw's house, reading the Christmas story, and singing Christmas carols by candle light. We spent the night with Joel's parents and needless to say we were both exhausted. After exchanging presents with them and getting the dogs settled we bothed crashed. Thanks to Taz, neither of us were able to get much sleep because we discovered he snores louder than anyone either of us know.
On Christmas Day, we ate lunch and opened presents with my mom's side of the family. After leaving my grandmother's, we went to my parents' to let Troy and Taz play outside with my Aunt and Uncle's dog, Ralph, and my cousin's dog, Wookie. After lots of running and playing ball, the dogs were exhausted and we went inside to exchange presents with my parents and relax for a few minutes while we enjoyed looking at all of our wonderful presents. Before we knew it, it was time to go spend time with Joel's parents, Matt, Leah, their kiddos, Justin, and Cardin. We watched the kids open more presents and then all the couples played Taboo. Leah, Cardin and I blew the guys away!
Our last two days at home were a little more laid back and relaxing. Friday morning, we ate breakfast with my parents. After breakfast Joel, my Dad and the dogs went for a walk in the woods to see if they could see any deer. Once they got back, we all went on an adventure to start the search for the perfect house for once Joel and I move back to Alabama after his enlistment. We saw several houses we liked, but hopefully will be able to come back to visit in the summer and continue searching. Later that night, we met Joel's parents for dinner. Saturday morning, we left my parent's house and had breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. Warren. After breakfast, we went back to spend a little more time with my parents, pack our bags and load the car. Once Joel and my Dad had everything packed, everyone including the dogs went back to the Warren's to see everyone before we left to head back to Jacksonville in the middle of the night. Time flew and we all had so much fun while we were home. We are both counting down the days until we move back!

Goodbye Gilbert

After a month and a half of emergency room visits, lots of trips to different doctors, an EEG, CT scans, ultrasounds, a basket full of prescriptions, and not being able to eat anything other than rice or a plain baked potato my doctor finally decided my gallbladder needed to be removed. Throughout the long journey, Joel decided to name my gallbladder Gilbert since it was causing so many problems and everyone other than the doctors in Jacksonville seemed to know exactly what seemed to be the problem. On December 22, we said our final goodbyes to Gilbert and I am finally back to normal and Gilbert-free!