Lovin' North Carolina

Sunset and storm clouds on the lake.

Rich and Aaron at Grandfather Mountain.

Richard and I at Grandfather Mountain with the mile high swinging bridge...a little scary to cross, but not to bad.

a view of Short-Off Mountain from the lake

Aaron at the lake.

Andrew, Jonathan(my nephew), Jarrett (my cousin) and Aaron at Mt Mitchell State Park

Andrew with his souvenir from gem mining in the mountains

Richard helping Aaron mining for gems in the mountains.

Our dog, Zoey, cooling her belly after a hike in the mountains to a beautiful waterfall.

my niece Ashton, Andrew, Aaron and Levi climbing to the bottom of the falls.

I know I haven't been on here in a great while, but I'm back. I just wanted to update you all on the goings on of "Me and My Gang." Well, where to start...

My husband is getting ready to go back to Iraq for a 2nd tour with the National Guard. This time it's the Texas Nat'l Guard. I am very proud of him that he serves his country the way he does. Not that I want him to go back, but I am proud that he's a soldier and serves his country in any compacity. To make a long story short, since he's going to Iraq, I opted to return to North Carolina for the year he's gone. I wanted to be surrounded by my loving family that is my support system, not to mention the boys really miss their grandparents.

We left Texas on Aug 2nd and it took us two days to get to North Carolina. My husband will be with us until August 26th when he returns to TX to finish work and start preparing for his tour in Iraq. Since we've been home, we've been having a great time. We've been spending lots of time in the mountains and on the beautiful lake (thankyou Daddy for buying a boat!).

We've Moved!

Yes we finally moved out of the two bedroom apartment into a nice, open, spacious, bright, and roomy house. The boys each have their own bedrooms and we don't feel like we're on top of one another all the time. I kinda miss the apartment, I guess because we lived there for over a year and things were comfortable there. I knew where everything was, there was a place for everthing, and even though it was crowded, it was home. In this house, things are a little more spread out and I still haven't found everything from the move. But I'm not complaining, I'm just saying I wish I knew where everything was. Like the Q-tips! Where in the heck are the q-tips? You'd think I would have packed them with the bathroom stuff, but guess what? They are not with the bathroom stuff. So now I'm wondering if we were out and I threw the box away and forgot, or have I totally lost my mind and put them some place weird like the kitchen. Who knows, I'll find them eventually, I hope. But anywhoo, that's just an example.


And like any move to a new place this one is no different. It has had a few kinks to work out, but so far nothing we can't handle. Not too mention a few surprises....like the cat who was left behind by the previous residents. She's very sweet and the boys have fallen in love with her and named her Snowball because she is solid white. She was very skinny when she first appeared at our door, obviously from being abandoned. So being the cat person I am, I immediately started feeding her. She is putting on weight, but I don't think its because I'm over-feeding. I think she may be pregnant. She has been very good about staying outside, but the last couple of days she's more adamant about coming in the house. I'm assuming she's ready to find a nice nesting place for the babies. Oh dear, What will we do. Richard thinks I should take her to a local shelter, which I kind of agree with. But on the other hand, having kittens would be such a good experience for the kids.

Aaron and Snowball blowing bubbles.

Snowball taking a nap.