LDP visit NC pictures

1st day back

Today I once again started working on the alpine tower at NOC. It was a nice begining to summer work. Small group of 7 guys who were gang-ho about climbing--and they tipped! So, not a bad day at all!

Tomorrow is my last day of regular classes for this semester. Next week, of course, is exams. Not really looking forward to those, but I think I'll do ok on them.

Well, that's really all I had to say--I'm taking Molly out to dinner with my tip money! ~shhhh~ she doesn't know yet! :) See ya!

Paddler once again

The LDP have invaded Bryson City..and the surrounding areas!!!! lol The '05-'06 LDP were at our house for chili (thanx for the recipe mom) on Sunday night. We had a great time just chatting and getting to know them. Scott was there too and Molly, Dave, and I loved catching up with him. Then, on Monday I decided to skip school and go paddling with the LDP (thanx for convincing me Molly!!!). We had a blast! Best day of skipping yet! Monday night Molly and I went and picked Dave up and then went to dinner at McKinley's cabin w/ everyone. Then Tuesday, I went paddling again (don't worry Mom, it was reading day, so I didn't skip). Today I'm quite sore. I hadn't paddled since last August and my muscles (or what was left of them) are complaining today. I also got to use MY BOAT for the first time since I bought it this week. I hadn't tried it out since Dave and I bought boats at GAF. So, tonight, the LDP are coming over again just to cook their food and hang out with us, and eat the rest of the leftover chili (I made a bit too much). Well, I gotta go. 3 more class days!!! Then exam week...dun dun dun... lol

P.S. how has my blog become a message board for everyone to talk ABOUT me and not TO me????? I CAN SEE WHAT YOU'RE WRITING YOU KNOW!!!!

The Good Stuff

This week has been really amazing. Molly and I have had some really cool talks and walks and just had a great time hanging out.

Tuesday--Molly finally got her phone working, although she had to stay in the Verizon store for over an hour and a half (can we say S L O W ???).

Wednesday--Molly and I went out for ice cream after I got back from school. Then we went and did some laundry and watched "While You Were Out" (I love that show) while the clothes were drying! Then, that night, my small highschool girls small group went really well. Molly tagged along and really helped me out alot. It always helps to have exciting stories about traveling in other countries--thanx Mol!

Thursday--Molly came to school with me and hung out in the library and "hung out" on the internet while I went to my one class of the day. Then, ~drumrole please~ I FINALLY GOT MY FALL CLASSES ALL SORTED AND REGISTERED FOR AFTER A WEEK OF STRESS AND WORRY! YAY!
But most importantly, my grandfather had surgery. My grandmother and mom were pretty worried about the procedure. God really blessed it though and it went so smoothly. Granddaddy should recover very quickly and hopefully be working away in his garden very soon. Thanks God!

Friday--I am in class. He he--do we see a pattern here? Blogging in class really saves time, lol. Molly is leaving to visit her sister and bro-n-law who are in S.C. today. She'll be back though! In 2 days actually. We'll miss you Molly, lol.

So, that's the week's wrap up. I'm working most of the weekend for Spring Splash (NOC's season kick-off) and this years LDP will be at our house on Sunday night! YAY--WE GET TO SEE SCOTT, MICHAEL, BRUCE, and all the new peeps! See ya later!

Molly and Easter

On Thursday night Molly called a little after 9 to say "I'm lost somewhere in Cherokee." Cherokee is right down the road from us, so it wasn't too big of a deal. Then she called again to say she had driven up and down our road and just couldn't find house number 851. We're 251 I told her, there is no 851. Then I told her to stay there and Dave was coming to find her. So, Molly finally arrived at our house late Thursday night and we have had some good fun since then. Saturday we all went to my grandfathers 80th birthday party. All the kids were running around and screaming and it was a beautiful, steamy day (87' F). Sunday the three of us went to church and then had a church hotdog dinner while all the kids hunted for Easter eggs and jumped in one of those inflatable bouncy things. It was a good time. We then introduced Molly to the river and went down the Nantahala on duckies (inflatable kyaks). We had fun but got a little chilled (I was a chicken and wore a wet suit--and I'm glad of it!). So now that Easter break is over I'm back in Env. Health. Yeah yeah, this is the only class I can really bring my laptop to, the rest I have to be super involved in. So, I'm off. It's 10:21 and it's already 70 degrees! It's gonna be a scorcher!

Wonderful Weekend

Dave and I had a great weekend! We went to the aquarium on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and we took lots of cute pictures. Then we went to TGI Friday's to eat (love love love that place--too bad there's not one around here). Sunday we had a late breakfast then went to Rock City. I've always wanted to go there because there's signs for it everywhere! I'm a bit of a advertisers dream when it comes to those kinds of things. It was really cute actually, except what they did with the mass amounts of gnomes in the caves (it was a lil creepy). Then we went to an Indian place for lunch and met up with some of our friends from Chatt. Then we walked along the river (across from the aquarium) and went into some little shops (gear shops too, Dave needed his fix) and got some ice cream. Very pleasant weekend.

Also, on the way home, we saw a truck for sale! We think it is perfect for us and Dave is talking to the guy today. It is in our price range too so we may have a new truck soon (new to us not brand new). I love it except it's sort of an ugly color, lol. Well, I gotta get to class. Love you guys!

the big 1

Tomorrow is mine and Dave's FIRST anniversary guys! I can't believe it! It seems like yesterday, seriously. I remember getting my hair done and being very nervous before the wedding. I can also remember crying over the cake (if you saw it you would understand) and hearing Adam Nelson make an amazing toast to Dave after the wedding. The whole day was absolutely beautiful. I remember starting out that morning with going to breakfast with my 2 sisters and my mom. I could barely eat, but we had a good time together. I think we were all pretty nervous. Bethany held it together pretty well though, thanx B! lol Very good memories, our wedding was exactly what we wanted--totally perfect.

Tomorrow, for our anniversary, we are going to Chattanooga for the night. We're gonna hang out in that lovely city and then go to the aquarium which everyone says is the best they've ever been to. I'm excited just to get out of town for two days. I've even caught up on my homework (after much lapsing while watching Dawson's Creek, lol).

Have a great weekend everybody! I'll talk to ya when we get back!

answer to prayer

Just wanted to tell you all that I greatly felt your prayers yesterday! The surgery went so well and, by a miracle, I DIDN'T FEEL A THING!! I didn't even feel the numbing shots or anything! It was amazing and over very quickly. Dave was very supportive and sat by my side the whole time. I think he was even more nervous than I was! Thank you SO much honey, it meant so much to me for you to be there. After the surgery Dave drove me home and we picked up ~drumrole please~ THE 5TH SEASON OF DAWSON'S CREEK!!!! Yes folks, it HAS arrived. I then sat on the couch and watched it for the rest of the day (I even watched 2 episodes this morning before class....by skipping my first class of course, but I felt a little bad so sitting on the couch was nice, lol). Dave read his climbing magazines and endured the angst only Dawson's Creek could bring to going to school and dating and the normal events of life, lol

My older sister also did something very sweet for me yesterday! When I arrived home from the dr. there was a package waiting for me!!! She had a bucket of candy and my favorite drink (Coke!!!) waiting for me on the doorstep! Thanks so much Shannon, I LOVE getting packages!

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit grungy now w/ all the pain meds worn off but I'm still doing very well

Again, thanks for all your prayers!

prayer @ 1:45

Hi guys! Just wanted to ask you to pray for me about 1:45 today as I'll be having some minor invasive surgery. I'm a little worried cause I've never had ANY kind of surgery before. My stomach is in a bit of a knot. I know everything will be fine and Dave will be there with me, but I'm still not thrilled about it. If don't return Lydia gets my couch cause it goes w/ her chair, lol. I'll update you guys later (probably tomorrow) on how everything went. Thanks so much for praying, it means a lot.

P.S. Mom--thank you for calling this morning, it helped me feel better. Love you!

SUPRISE!!!...to us And to you

We have an announcement--we're PREGNANT!!!! I just found out a couple of weeks ago and wanted to tell everyone right away! Don't know the expected due date yet, but I'm going to the doctor next week so I should know then!!!! Yes, this came as a bit of a shock to Dave and I, as we didn't plan on having kids for quite awhile...but ~suprise~ we are! Dave is VERY VERY excited to be becoming a daddy as he won't just have the pastor's baby to play with before long. I'm excited as well, but am still getting over the shock (as you can imagine). I am going to finish out school through this semester and next semester and will probably take summer classes as well to get further along before the baby comes. Then I'll probably take a break for a semester and see if I can go back the semester AFTER that. Whew--that's alot of information. Anyway--we'll be around for the traditional congratulatory calls but you have to find somone that has our cell phone numbers (or you can e-mail me and I'll give them to you). We love you all...AND WE'RE HAVING A BABY!! ....i REALLY hope it has red curly hair---wouldn't that be cute!!!!! lol :-D



p.s. If you look at the date posted above you will realize it is April 1st. Being that April 1st is sometimes call "April Fools" I will let you make that connection. If you STILL don't get it----we're not pregnant---April Fool's!!!!!!! Sorry for the heart attacks but we ARE being smarter than that..come on people...give us some credit...lol.

Retraction

Ok, Chris has called me out. He didn't really lead me to believe that he and Emily would get engaged this summer. However, seeing as he said they would at least date a year...and the year would be up this summer...I concluded it might happen this summer through deductive reasoning. Pretty good for a non-scientific mind eh? LOL

I'm actually in science class right now! Hey, don't judge--I'm getting good grades too (Chris), for the most part (stupid Spanish). So I feel I can slack off sometimes in certain classes. Ok, I slack off all the time in this classes, but hey, I'm still going to have an "A" at the end of the semester, so who's gonna blame me?

I mean, if you KNOW a professor doesn't really expect anything but that you are in class on time, why exceed his expectations if you're getting a good grade?!? I'm no over-achiever. If I can ride under the radar and get good grades then why not?! I don't do this in every class. I'm the star of both my English classes and one of my education classes as well! And to say something for my science class, I do listen generally and comment if need be...and I'm ALWAYS early. So, my prof. likes me well enough, and I guess that's good enough for me! Anyway, I'm going to stop justifying my way of life to you all, I'm gonna start listening now! So there!

GOOD DAY TO YOU!

P.S.

For those of you who care--Chris Spicer has blogged!!! I know it's a miracle, and if you don't believe me you can check it out yourselves! (link to Chris's blog on right--->)

I have two papers to write today and a play to see tonight. The papers really aren't that bad though and I'm really looking forward to the play! It is Shakespeare's "Much ado about nothing"...or something (sorry I never read this play, so I forget the name...lol). I'm actually dragging Dave to the play too so you can ask him how he liked it.

I had the pleasure of talking to the one and only Daroline DaSilva today on the phone! She called me and we spent a wondrous 45 minutes talking of things that are going on in our lives. Thanks so much for calling Dee, it really meant alot to me.

Well, I'm off. I would love to get into the gym today at some point. I've been saying I'm going to start exercising all semester but I've only been to the gym twice so far. So, we'll try again today.

On an "up" note it stopped snowing and is getting back to "Spring-like" temperatures.

Chris

Spicer may have dropped out of our lives, but I learned this weekend that he has not forgotten us. I was privileged enough to catch Chris on IM and talked to him for bit. He is still in school and enjoying learning and looking forward to teaching. Of course you are all wondering if he is engaged yet...so I will post that part of the conversation.


myself--->stuffed up and running says: (4:41:37 PM)
so any proposals yet??? or up coming?

Spicer---->Hello End of the Term, Wasn't Expecting You So Soon says: (4:42:44 PM)
Business proposals? Hmmm. . . maybe I'll start up a deli shop

Hello End of the Term, Wasn't Expecting You So Soon says: (4:43:02 PM)
I could use the money for school but I doubt I have the capital to get it started

stuffed up and running says: (4:43:41 PM)
lol....that's Chris I miss...no no...ya know...the diamond ring kind...???

Hello End of the Term, Wasn't Expecting You So Soon says: (4:44:35 PM)
hahaha. . . it's been talked about but we sort of agreed at least a year of dating was a good thing

So, he's not engaged yet but after talking to him that may change in the summer? or later...not starting any rumors, but of course we all know Emily and Chris will be engaged eventually. ~sigh~ lovebirds.
Chris also sent me a recent pic. of himself and Emily and I told him I WOULD post it on my blog so people would know he's still alive but just love-struck.

Snow in the Spring

March the 20th was the first day of Spring. Today is the 25th...and it's snowing. Yes, you heard right, snowing. I am sitting in a coffee shop/book store in Asheville and watching the snowflakes fall outside the window. Granted, it's not a blizzard, but it is white. It's also pretty freakin cold! I am in thick jeans and a pretty thick hoodie and my teeth still chatter outside. Last week I was wearing tank tops and flip-flops! This week, Dave has once again donned his down jacket. Mother Nature is definitely getting a kick out of watching us get all ruffled over the weather. Well, I'm off to refill my coffee cup and indulge in some good ol' celebrity gossip. Thanks Pink is the New Blog!

IMPORTANT GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!!
If you also are a person who suffers from chronic celebrity gossip deficiency go to: www.trent.blogspot.com
**warning** this will not cure addiction and may cause it to get worse.

~brrrr~ toodles!

Here's the "buddies" aka my older sis's twins. finally figured out how to put larger pictures on. Don't ask me which one is which cause I have no clue unless they're wearing different things! Aren't they cute though! Gotta love the cheesy grins!
Gotta wash clothes then I think I'm gonna straighten my hair for the night. Peace!

the other side

I thought since I posted my brother's kid's pictures I should post my sister's as well! Here are her two oldest. I had pictures of her twins as well but they were too big to put on. I think that you can only have 140 kB's, Sis. Maybe i'll be able to post them later. I'm in class so I better start paying attention. Have a great day!

new table

Dave suprised me the other night with a new table! See, we had gotten our other table from my grandmother's basement. The old table was 50's style brown and metal. It did the job but it wasn't pretty. The new table is a gorgeous color of brown and it can even get bigger! I'm very excited about it. He didn't actually buy it but got it from one of our friends neighbors as they were getting a new one, or something like that. Either way, the table is beautiful and I love it! Thanks sweetie! I gotta go though. I'll post again soon.

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!

I have my "I ~clover~ Ireland" shirt on today--V. cute. I've got my green earrings and a green ring and even some green eye liner on! I'm ready yo! lol Dave and I are having a St. Patrick's Day party tomorrow night. It was a night when more of our friends could come over, so we're doing it then instead of today. I'm excited about buying decorations today! yay! Maybe someone that comes will have a digatal camera and I can post some pictures on here from it. Anyway, I gotta print this paper out and get to class. Here are some St. Patties Pix for ya! The green river is in Chicago! They actually dye it that color every year for St. Patties! gross looking huh? And the other one is what they do for St. Patties in Ireland--DRINK GUINNESS! Yes, that IS a Ken doll, but hey, they start young over there, lol.

New niece/nephew

I'm going to be an aunt AGAIN! I found out last night, via a REALLY cute picture through e-mail (the one I posted), that my brother and sister-n-law are having another baby! It's due in October! I started crying immediately in the middle of school! I'm sure everyone thought I was having a nervous breakdown or something. Anyway, I'm VERY excited for them. I called them immediately to say "congrats" and can't wait to find out what the baby will be (boy/girl).

To update you since Dave and I got back from the road trip, I'm in school again and trying to survive a few late midterms. Our road trip was amazing and we had a blast driving all over. We did run into a bit of weather while we were driving out of Arkansas and into Texas (hence the monsoon bit in the last blog). We did get through it unscathed though and hung out in the town of Texarkana (yes, that does border Texas AND Arkansas). It was a cool town, very windy, took some cool pictures on the border of the two states that runs through town. Then we spent the night in a the middle of nowhere in Louisiana and decided to drive all the way home the next day. So, we drove through most of Louisiana, the middle of Mississippi, Alabama, and the top of Georgia. Then we stopped in Chattanooga for coffee w/ Adam and his girlfriend Julie and then continued on home. We arrived home about 2 a.m., but it was worth it to sleep in our own bed that night. So, great trip. I think we've decided to make it an annual thing. Who knows where we'll end up next year!

Texas or bust

Enjoyed the hot springs in Hot Springs, Arkansas--stop Now in Texas in town of Texarkana--stop Survived flooding of tent, monsoon while driving, and tornado watch--stop Will continue into Louisiana tomorrow--stop Update you later--stop Texas is hot--stop