Hello 30's

I'm 30!   When did I get so old?  I feel like 30 is old , maybe because it's one of the milestone birthdays, and I am looking forward to my 31st birthday 'cause that seems less old to me (weird I know).

I had a wonderful birthday.  Neal come into bed with us in the morning and sang me the Happy Birthday song, which was the perfect start to my day.  Christ & Nancy were here visiting and we all got to celebrate together.  It was nice to have family in town to celebrate with.  We had a great steak dinner, on our new grill, and a delicious apple pie for dessert.  

Then the next morning my birthday continued with a fun package from my parents.  Chocolate covered strawberries arrived on my front porch...and they were delicious!  Neal was so excited about them he climbed on the table and as I was taking a picture he immediately licked the top of the strawberries and turned to me with a huge grin on his face.  I think he was trying to claim them for himself, which didn't work (I think he got that trick from Tyler).   I did share some with Tyler and Neal, but mostly enjoyed them all by myself with a cup of coffee.  What could be better then chocolate covered strawberries and coffee for breakfast, right?

It was a great, relaxing and low key birthday, just what I wanted.     

It's a bird, it's a plane....

No, it's Superman!!!

"Superman saves the day" is what you will here this superman say as he speeds by you.   I have to say this superman is my favorite superhero.  It's fun to see Neal's imagination take shape as he plays.

Remember These...

Remember all the fun toys you had as a kid...everything has changed so much now but there are still some of those toys that I find for Neal that I remember having as a kid.

One of those is the catch game with the tennis ball and velcro mits.  I remember playing with this all time with my sisters.  We would play with them until finally the velcro didn't work anymore.  Neal has loved playing catch with this toy 'cause he can hardly touch the ball with the "mit" and it sticks.   The funniest part is watching him try and pull the ball off the mit, it's a good workout for him (right now the velcro has a super strong hold on the ball).

I wonder how long this set will last before the ball or mit loose their ability to stick together.  Until then we will have fun playing catch together in the back yard.

A smile to start your week...

We had a relaxing weekend together as a family here at the house.  We had hopped to go to the beach on Saturday but the weather was not looking promising and with thunderstorms in the forecast we decided to stay home.  We still managed to have fun in our own backyard. Neal played, Tyler worked on yard work and I did a little of both.

As I went to bed on Saturday I picked up my phone and found several photos of Neal (which I had not taken).  I guess he got my camera while I was making dinner and decided to take some pictures of himself making funny faces.

As you can see our weekend was filled with smiles, laughter and fun.  Neal can always make Tyler and I laugh and there is nothing better then starting off the week with a smile and a few silly faces.

An Alaska Wedding

What a picture perfect wedding for Wes and Jessi.  They decided that they wanted to have an outdoor wedding in AK and we were all nervous about the wedding actually taking place outdoors (and not having to be moved inside), especially since July had been so rainy in AK already.   However, the Lord was so gracious and gave us a perfect day for the wedding.

When we arrived in AK a few days before the wedding everyone was working at full speed finishing-up the last details for the big day.  We but together flowers, pulled weeds, gathered ingredients for the food at the reception, and baked over 600 cookies.  Everyone worked hard and we even got shirts to wear for the occasion...

The wedding day finally arrived, the rain stayed away and everything and everyone was ready.  Tyler and Neal were both in the wedding, along with several others friends and family and ALL the cousins.

With the potential of anything happening when you have 7 kids in a wedding it actually all worked out perfectly.  The kids did exactly what they were told and made it all the way down the aisle without a problem.   You can see the whole wedding party pictures below...

We had such a great time celebrating with everyone and are so excited and happy for the new Mr. & Mrs. Wes Hampton and their new lives together.  They are living in OH which is only a days drive from us so we will get to go visit them some and maybe spend a few holidays together.   Congratulations again to Uncle Wes and Aunt Jessi - We love you both!!

85 and rising...

So, on Saturday night we were sitting inside and I started to feel a little warm.  I looked at the thermostat and realized that the house was hotter then the thermostat was set.   I walked over to the vents and sure enough, no AC.  Yep, our AC was broken.   Good timing right?  So, we turned on the fan poured ourselves some sweet tea and settled down for a relaxing yet warm weekend.

Thankfully this weekend was on the cooler side compared to the hot temperatures we have had lately.  It was only in the low 90's and mid 80's the last few days which has made the house tolerable without AC.  The humidity is high (78% to 98%) but at least the house is staying around 85 degrees.

So, what have we done while it's been hot inside?   We watch the Olympics, drink sweet tea, go for a swim in the pool and find creative ways to make dinner without using the oven or stove (I don't want to turn on anything that will make the house any warmer)  Thankfully the AC should be repaired by the end of the day and I found a really great recipe for dinner using my slow cooker.  If this Lemon, Rosemary Roasted Chicken tastes anything like it looks right now we are in for a delicious dinner...though maybe we will want to serve it cold as a chicken salad if the AC isn't working by tonight :)

  Now, I think I will have a nice cold glass of ice water as I continue my day and count down the hours 'till the AC Tech comes.

Back to AK

Last week was wonderful as we got to head back to AK for my sister-in-laws wedding (more photos of the wedding to come later).  It was great to spend time with family and friends again.  We had told Neal  about a week before we left that we were going to go on a plane to Alaska in 5 sleeps.  He was so excited and loved counting down the number of sleeps before we got to "go to Alaska on airplane".   Not only did we get to fly on several airplanes but on our way back to NC we got to ride on this Disney Plane.  Neal couldn't stop talking about Mickey mouse when he say it and now all he asks for is to ride on the "Mickey Plane".

The excitement and delight that Neal has for flying on airplanes and being at the airport is crazy.  He just can't get enough of the whole traveling experience.  Everything is exciting to him from riding the escalators  the "train" to the other terminals, seeing the airplanes and pointing out (more like yelling out) every time he sees any kid with a Spiderman or Toy Story shirt.   This is how we occupied some of our time during our layovers.

If Neal wasn't watching a movie (one of the reasons I think he loves flying so much is 'cause he gets to watch movies) he was sleeping.

It sure is a blessing to have a child that can sleep anywhere.  He was so tired that he even fell asleep in the Atlanta airport for a few hours.

With a total travel time (including layovers) of 14 hours, 3 airplanes and lots of coffee for Tyler and I and movies for Neal we finally made it to AK.   We adjusted to the 4 hour time difference after about a day and a half and had a great time with the whole family.