Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Visitors...

2010-02-21T21:43:00.006-05:00

The grass is still under all that snow. It's hard to believe, because we haven't seen it in forever. The exposed grass has brought out some deer. I saw a herd of 4 deer today, and a very special deer the other night.

This deer that was standing very close to my back deck, only had 3 legs. It wasn't very skittish. I stood there taking pictures and it just kept eating.

It was very dark outside so these aren't the best pictures, but you get the idea.

And what would a post be without one of these....

Beautiful sights and lots of snow!

2010-02-13T19:37:00.008-05:00

We have had a busy winter here in Virginia. We have gotten tons of snow. I of course can't stop taking pictures of it all. I'll let you choose your favorites! This is what I've been busy doing this past January and since...

Bay Rock public access...
Hardy bridge....

Hardy bridge...

from Hardy bridge...

from the bridge...

our house...

another snowy day...

our yard...

my favorite tree...

Blue Ridge Parkway bridge on Hardy Rd...

Fred...

a farm out in Fincastle...

So beautiful...

The snow was really powdery in this storm and was blowing everywhere in the 40mph wind...

an apple orchard...

I can't help but snap shots of the beautiful sun. This is one of the things I see that reminds me that God is number one...

Hope you are all safe during your winter weather....

Merry Christmas!

2010-02-13T18:53:00.005-05:00

We had a white Christmas in Roanoke this year! We got quite a bit of snow the weekend before Christmas. Then we headed to Tennessee on Christmas Eve to be with my family. We ended up having a wonderful and quiet day.

Roanoke Valley
Bryce getting excited about his gifts!

He was of course trying to open them immediately.

We had a nice Christmas lunch together. We missed my sister and the rest of the family as well as John's family....

...But we ate plenty for them.... lol.

Bryce and John played all day with all the toys. They put together K-nex cars to race each other!

They had a so much fun just relaxing at the house.

All in all God blessed us with a Merry & safe Christmas.

Baby Shower!

2010-02-13T18:30:00.003-05:00

Our friends Jonathan and Tiffany are having a baby girl. I assisted Miranda in throwing a coed baby shower for the couple! It was such a fun night.

The parents to be...

The guys participated in the baby games. Miranda melted candy bars and put them in the diapers. They took turns examining the diapers and then they all guessed what they were! It was really interesting watching them play!

The mom to be being silly!

Baby girl arrived healthy! Congrats to the couple!

Part 6 of Thanksgiving week!

2009-12-29T17:20:00.000-05:00

On our last day in Vegas we attended John's cousins wedding. Here are few pictures from the evening.

I couldn't skip taking a picture of the bar at the restaurant that they had their reception at. It lit up different colors. It was neat.

John and I caught our flight out that Friday night and made it back Saturday to the East coast. We had such a great time.

Part 5 of Thanksgiving Week!

2009-12-29T15:18:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving, we headed back out to the strip to take in more sights. We stopped at the Hooters in Vegas for lunch. We did have turkey dinner at the resort for dinner, don’t worry!

This was the view from our room.

A fountain outside the Paris Las Vegas- a replica of La Fontaine des Mers

The Eiffel Tower replica during the day.

The New York New York hotel and casino. We went inside to find out more about the roller coaster. We didn’t ride it though, it was just too pricy! We did get a little lost in the casino part though. It is not easy to get out of those places once you get in!

This is the Volcano outside of the Mirage Hotel. We are standing across the street at The Venetian.

This is one of the many detailed ceilings inside the Venetian hotel.

This is the ceiling inside the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian.

Another shot inside the Venetian. The sky is incredibly real looking.

John inside the Grand Canal

And another video: Volcano at the Mirage

Volcano at the Mirage

Part 4 of Thanksgiving Week!

2009-12-29T15:00:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday we woke and packed up our bags. We were heading to Vegas!!!

One last look at the beautiful Pacific Ocean….

We made one last stop by the Foli’s to visit for a while. I painted Lil’s nails while we were there.

She had the strongest, thickest, longest, most beautiful nails I’ve ever seen.

Dan, Grandpa Foli, & John….

Dan, Grandpa, Tim, & John….

Tim, John, Dan, and Lil….

Lil, Dan, Tiffany, John, Kristi, & Ernie….

We headed to Vegas that afternoon. Traffic was ridiculous! But we finally made it. I snapped some pictures of the desert on the way. I had never been to Nevada until this trip. It was nice to see.

Beautiful, but not quite like the Smoky Mountains….

The Luxor

The Monte Carlo

Mandalay Bay

New York, New York

Caesars Palace

Paris Las Vegas

Trying out another thing I just learned how to do…..

The Bellagio Fountains water show….

The Bellagio Fountain

Part 3 of Thanksgiving Week!

2009-12-29T12:12:00.003-05:00

We started day 3 of the trip with a little shopping. Then we headed over to the Foli’s.

Birds of Paradise flower at the Foli’s house.

John…

Grandpa Ernie….

Granma and Grandpa….

John was doing a Rising Card Magic trick with Grandma on his Ipod. (Leave it to John-the-magician to download an app that is a magic trick!)

We hung out most of the day with the Foli’s.

Grandpa- probably watching a classic western or a classic movie like Pretty Woman.

Grandma Lil- Aka- Noni. She is sharp. She is most likely working on the crossword from the N.Y. Times.

Ginette and Grandpa in the Kitchen….

Ginette can cook up a storm. So can Grandpa I hear. True Italian cuisine.

After a nice quiet dinner, John and I headed to the pier. We hadn’t even been down at the beach where we were staying. So we went for a walk.

John and me….

It is always clear there.

There were lots of fishermen on the pier. This fish had just been caught and unhooked. I can’t say where it went next. Hopefully back in the ocean. He was a little guy.

One more pose. Then we called it a night. The time difference was taking a toll on us East Coasters.

Part 2 of Thanksgiving Week!

2009-12-29T11:38:00.003-05:00

On the next day of our trip, John and I drove to meet Dan & Tiffany. We ate at a great Mexican restaurant. It was fun to try some different things. They had a different salsa that was supposed to be hotter than the regular, but to be honest, John and I just thought it tasted like mud! I also attempted to eat a pepper. Once John saw how hot it was to me, the one of us who eats really hot stuff, he decided not to eat his. After drinking a lot of water, we headed to La Jolla Cove to Seal Beach. Check out all the pictures…..

Another picture from the top of the resort.

The weather was always beautiful. A little chili at times, but always sunny. It was a nice break from all the rain on the East coast.

La Jolla Cove (pronounced Luh Hoi-ya or something like that)

Being the chicken I always am, I was hesitant in jumping over the little gap in the rocks. The guys could just step over, but remember, I’m 5’2”. It was a big step for me. I did end up crossing over finally!

I don’t think I could ever live in California, but I really could get used to seeing the sun set over that beautiful ocean.

The “Seal Beach” is very popular with the seals during the winter months. They make their nest there. There were quite a few there the day we visited.

I’m trying out this new (to me) tool called Picasa. I made a collage. I hope you can see some of the many pictures I tool of the seals. (if it doesn’t look good, I’ll change it eventually.)

After visiting the Seals we headed to the San Diego area again. We went to the Harbor and visited for a while. We checked out all the boats. (Dan is in the picture with the pirate ship below)

John and I…..

It was such a beautiful trip….

Next we headed down the bay a little to a shopping area. It was really. we walked around and had fun in the hat shop….

Dan the Astronaut…

Tiffany- this was my favorite hat…

John the sailor-YES, he was in fact doing the YMCA.

Viking Kristi…

Scary John!

She could pull off every hat in the store….

It almost looks like it could be his real hair.

Too Cute Tiffany….

a beautiful flower- Birds of Paradise

Can’t get enough of the scenery…

After a fun day with Dan and Tiffany we headed back over to the Foli’s to have another big dinner. John’s Aunt Diane joined us this time…

We caught Tim helping out in the kitchen… (Ginette wanted this picture as evidence. lol!)

Stay tuned for more our trip…..

Part 1 of Thanksgiving Week!

2009-12-29T10:01:00.006-05:00

I am playing catch up with all my photos from events and trips. During the week of Thanksgiving John and I went out to California to spend time with his parents, grandparents and brother. We did a lot that week so I am going to make multiple posts. Here are pictures from the first day! Such a beautiful place. We stayed in Oceanside, California. His brother is living in San Diego. We had a great first day visiting with him and his girlfriend Tiffany. They showed us around. It was lots of fun.

This is the view from the hotel room. We stayed right next to the Oceanside Pier.

Here is another picture from our hotel balcony. We were in the tallest building and pretty high up too. (only like the 5th floor). There aren’t too many tall buildings there.

We went to eat at Joes Crab Shack or something like that. John’s brother, Dan, got a bucket of Cajun seafood stuff. We enjoyed the fresh seafood and I even ate Calamari!

Later we all went down to see their apartment. The guys decided to play video games for a while, so Tiffany and I went walking on the beautiful beach. I got some great shots.

This was right outside their apartment.

After hanging out we headed to see John’s grandparents in Oceanside. We had tons of fun. We ate like kings the entire week because John’s mom was cooking up a storm!

Dan helped set the table.

The Foli gang: Grandpa Foli, Aunt Debbie, Grandma Lil, Tim (John’s dad), John, Ginette (John’s Mom), Tiffany (Dan’s girlfriend), and Dan.

The Foli gang again: Aunt Debbie, Grandma Lil, Tim (John’s dad), John, Me (Kristi), Tiffany (Dan’s girlfriend), and Dan.

We finished off our dinner with pumpkin pie (my favorite). Tim made some whipped cream to top it off.

John and I took a walk up to the top of our resort to view the pier at night. It was such a beautiful night out.

One of my Honey-Bun!

Stayed tuned for part 2!

Congratulations Jeff & Rachel!

2009-12-28T22:05:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to say congratulations to Jeff & Rachel on their new house! We will miss having such great friends so close, but we are so happy for them! Here's a little peak....

When it rains, it pours….

2009-12-28T21:52:00.001-05:00

Technorati Tags: fall,pictures

We had heavy rain and consequently lots of flooding back in November. I snapped these pictures down at the marina next to our house.

If you don’t remember what this area looks like, you could see here in this old picture from fire training…

family time....

2009-12-28T20:21:00.007-05:00

My family made a trip up to visit just before Halloween. We only had about 24 hours together but had tons of fun together! We started the fun with a fire in the fire pit! We roasted Brats, hot dogs and marshmallows!

We celebrated Bryce's birthday a little early and gave him his gift.... The helmet didn't really give it away, so we had to show him in the garage...

It was a mini bike! John scored this find on Craigslist. The guys played with this thing constantly and I have pictures, but I couldn't post them and give it away before his birthday. He was really excited. Don't worry, for safety reasons, it is going to reside with us, so if the guys get bored they can still play with it too!

On Sunday morning we carved pumpkins. It was tons of fun to see what all we picked. We all helped in the carving.

We, okay the guys, played a little while on the mini bike and 4 wheeler.

After playing for a while we went to eat at my favorite BBQ place in Roanoke, then headed to Ikenberry Orchards to play in the corn maze. We had such a fun time. My family had to get back on the road afterwards, but we had such a great time while they were here.

Drive on the Parkway....

2009-10-30T15:06:00.004-04:00

I'm playing catch up on my blog. I know! I'm really far behind. Life has taken me in many different directions. You never know what the world will throw at you or where God will take you next. I have been very busy and I promise I have lots of pictures to prove it! We will start with the day of riding on the parkway. Not long after our Anniversary, John and I took a ride up the parkway to enjoy the fall colors. It was nice because it was relaxing and it was on my list!

Here are some pics we stopped and took at the Peaks of Otter and along the parkway....

It turned out to be a beautiful ride even though the weather wasn't the best. I am glad we got to do it!

2 years

2009-10-30T15:03:00.002-04:00

John and I just celebrated our 2 year anniversary! I just had to show off the beautiful Orchid he gave me!

Garden shots from Virginia...

2009-10-26T21:42:00.004-04:00

I have really been enjoying the flowers in my garden these are some pictures that I've taken recently. I have been playing with the settings some more. Enjoy!

Fall Festivities

2009-10-26T20:44:00.004-04:00

We had some friends over a few weeks ago for a bonfire in the fire pit. We roasted brats and marshmallows. We are really enjoying having the fire pit! We are still working on permanent seating though.

John strumming on the guitar.
Jeff EATING MUSTARD! (shock)

Rachel and Jeff...

Eric, Terri, Cody, & Clay...

John and Me...

Eric and the family...

Wedding Bells

2009-10-25T21:23:00.004-04:00

John and I took a trip back to Tennessee last a while back to attend a wedding of one of our great friends, Jonathan. It was raining, but was still a beautiful ceremony and stopped raining in time to have fun at the reception.

John and Me before the wedding.

Miranda before the wedding

About to see the happy couple say I do!

They looked so happy.

Me, Jonathan, Tiffany, & John

Miranda, Jonathan, Tiffany, Phillip

Tiffany showing off her comfy after wedding shoes. Too cute!

The Gang

The ladies

The groom and Bride!

Dinner Club

2009-10-25T20:34:00.004-04:00

John and I recently joined a group of young married couples for a fun monthly Dinner Club event. I of course took pictures of all the fun food!

Fire Fighter training

2009-10-25T18:59:00.005-04:00

I know it's been a while, but I've had a lot going on. So I consequently have a lot of updates!

John gets to do a lot of training for firefighting. One thing he got to do recently was train how to help the Rescue Squad if there was ever a need to load someone in the LifeGuard helicopter to be air lifted to the hospital. I got to tag a long and take some great shots. It was fun to learn about how it all works. Especially since there is a new show on tv about Ambulance drivers and Medical helicopters. It was really neat to see.

wakeboarding....

2009-08-30T20:21:00.006-04:00

John loves to wake board. Our friend Andy invited John and I over to the lake a couple Friday's ago to play in the water. We had lots of fun and I got a lot of great pictures.

back home...

2009-08-29T00:45:00.004-04:00

While I was back home for Suzzy's wedding, I got to hang out with Bryce and my mom and dad. It was fun to just chill at the house. I played the Wii with mom and Bryce. Then Bryce and I climbed a tree together. We took lots of fun pictures.

My dad was doing yard work.
Bryce playing in the tree.

Here we both are in the tree...

I am afraid of heights but I managed to climb the tree and get down without falling. I really enjoyed the time with my family and wish I could get back more often.

Wedding Bells are Gonna Chime....

2009-08-28T20:33:00.008-04:00

A few weeks ago I headed back to Tennessee. One of my best friend's from middle/high school, Suzanne, was getting married. She had a very beautiful ceremony and fun reception. She was so beautiful and her husband Chris and her were so happy to finally have their big day. I got to see a bunch of friends that I haven't seen in forever. John couldn't get out of work to go, so I took lots of pictures to share with him and you.

Suzzy with her step dad, a beautiful...
All the pretty maids in a row....The church was so beautiful...
They had a very nice Christian ceremony... They were both really happy

Love...

pew flowers...

I couldn't get over the church. I also couldn't believe that I had never been there...

....

The reception was just down the street.

One of my buddies, Josh (that I've known since kindergarten), Suzanne's mom, and me...

Josh, Megan (I've known her since the 4th grade!), and me...

Suzzy and me giving the goofy faces...

Okay, a serious one. She was so beautiful...

I had a great time getting to see Suzzy tie the knot and hang out with all my friends.

VBS time.....

2009-08-19T20:50:00.006-04:00

It's VBS time! A couple weeks ago we had VBS at our church. John and I were in charge of the 3rd grade class. When we signed up for that group, we had no idea it was the biggest group at the church. We led around 32 kids almost every night of VBS.
This is our group doing their big performance at the end of the week.
Here they are practicing...

John practicing with the kids...

We took up two full rows because we had so many! We also had 2-3 youth helpers each night to bring up the rear of the line and help herd the kideroos.

I'm on the top row! They made me sing with the kids.

We learned sign language to go along with the songs. We have a lot of pictures of the singing because we weren't the teachers or the craft leaders, just in charge of getting the kids to each area. And we helped sing along.

The kids were a lot fun.

Here we are in crafts. I would help a table or two and so would John and our other helps.

The kids of course loved the gym class part.

They played a lot of fun games that we didn't play as kids.

The kids actually did really good at learning and listening during the Bible study. They worked with a new verse every night. They also could memorize and recite all the verses to win a prize. There were about 5 kids who memorized it and two adults. Coincidentally, all the kids were from my class, though I had nothing to do with them memorizing them. I was very proud of them though.

This game was like dodge ball but with beach balls.

John couldn't resist playing with the beach balls.

They burnt off a lot of energy playing.

....

All in all we were really glad we could help out with the kids. We hope to get to help again next year.

Ice Cream Block Party

2009-08-18T21:37:00.009-04:00

I know, I haven't blogged in forever! I've been so busy that I have just gotten really far behind. So I have lots of updates for you now! This was from a month ago. Back in the spring I signed up to win a giveaway from Edy's Ice Cream. Well, I won! So they sent me ice cream to feed 100 people and the supplies-bowls, spoons, scoops, table clothes, and such... To win I had to write an essay about why my community deserved this prize! I suggested in my essay that the volunteer fire department and rescue squad needed a big thank you! We were able to get everyone together as I threw my first ever Ice Cream Block Party!

Edy's sent 10 tubs of ice cream and 36 little individual servings. John and I raided the box of ice cream as soon as it came, to choose our favorite flavors we wanted to try. I wanted to try the Double Fudge Brownie and John wanted to try Smores.

The ice cream came in a cooler with dry ice.
There were so many choices!

We all had a great time and enjoyed the ice cream.

There was a big turn out of volunteers...

and their families...
Shannon, Kristi, Rachel & Terri serving up all the ice cream...

I also planned for some fun games for the families...

Rachel took a turn... She was pretty good. We had basketball, football toss, and horseshoes...
The guys also played some footfall.

they had a lot fun...

It turned out to be a beautiful evening and I think everyone had fun and plenty of ice cream!

We had the rental equipment for the whole weekend, so we set up the basketball game in the garage on Sunday.

We all gave it a try.

Chance and Richie came over to hang out too...

The guys moved into the basement room to play darts afterwards.

Chance, John and Jeff are really competitive when playing darts.

I don't remember who shot this, but yeah, they hit a bulls eye!

They concentrate so hard.
It was a long fun weekend. Again I would like to say thanks to Edy's Ice Cream and Grand Rental in Vinton, VA for their contributions. We were able to celebrate the great volunteers of Hardy and enjoy getting together and having fun, on a very small budget.

Goodbye runts!

2009-07-27T08:59:00.007-04:00

Last Thursday I had to return the runts to the SPCA. My time of fostering was over. It went good. I didn't cry or get attached and drag one back out the door with me. Our family is complete right now with our 2 dogs and 3 cats (and 4 people) all in one house. I did take some fun pictures of them. And, I actually got to see them sleep for the first time in 3 weeks! It is hard to believe, but they would never lay down and sleep with us around. So while they were in the crate (both in my car and in my office at work) they decided to rest. They couldn't run and jump and fight so they might as well. Here are some pictures of the little ones--not so little anymore!

No kittens were harmed in the making of this picture: I thought it would be cute to stick them in the entertainment center. That's one of Chelsea's favorite hangouts! They were confused.
They are too cute. They were eagerly waiting for me to open the bathroom door to let them out into our room in order to destroy everything one last time! (I can tell you also that the big boy is on the left, then little girl, then little boy. I got to know them pretty well even though they looked so much alike.)

So I released the hounds....or kittens......

They always want on the counter when I am getting ready in the morning and at night. So I thought I'd leave the water on to see what happens. We had another water-out-of-the-tap lover, like Pebbles.

He's checking out the tub. Another favorite hangout for them.

When we are climbing into bed they love to jump around and chase our feet. They gave John a run for his money. He couldn't understand how the little guy was still chasing his legs/feet after 20 minutes. They have never ending energy... (Note the one one on the left is trying to bite John's knee and the other is going for his foot!) They also used his legs to hide behind and wait on another unsuspecting cat to come along and then they would pounce. Too cute!

The little girl was often just hanging out with the brothers while they wrestled. She would try to wrestle too but they would be really gentle as if knowing she was so much smaller and fragile.

The little girl was just so precious.

Here is the evidence showing that they do sleep! See the paw in the face of the one with his head hear the door! Too funny.

It was hard to tell who was who in the carrier, but I think this was the smaller boy. He was feisty and wanted to play in the car on the way to work.

The 2 on the left are spooning and the feisty little guy finally conked out! This is one of my favorite pictures of them.

We had an SPCA dinner get-together on Friday night and the foster coordinator said that they had already fixed them and they were now up for adoption!!! I am so happy that they are now safe from being euthanized!

2009-07-20T13:55:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to post a few updates from my gardens. All my plants are doing really well.

(my first blossom on the Black eyed Susan's!

There are over a dozen healthy roses blooming on this one in this picture! (sorry about the dead ones, they were done blooming)

I really love gardening and I hope to get to fun new plants in the gardens again next year. Some changes I will make to the garden before next spring will be:

1) pull out all the plants and layer a sheet of the stuff that keeps the weeds out.

2) make it a little bigger so that I don't have to plant the plants so close to the edge of the grass.

3) I want to add a rock/stone border to make it easier on John when he mows.

I love the experiment of it all.

uneventful weekend...

2009-07-20T13:19:00.006-04:00

I had a fairly uneventful weekend. I cleaned house Friday night and I worked Saturday. I didn't get much sleep Saturday night because of the dog. Brinks wouldn't stop barking and she sleeps on the porch right outside my window. She is a good guard dog unless there is nothing visibly wrong to us and it is 4:30-5:30 in the morning and she wont stop. But I got to see the sunrise for the first time at our house (never really payed any attention to it before). So Sunday I relaxed and caught up on some reading. John and Jeff went to visit John's brother, Dan, in York, Pennsylvania. We also had Rachel's two younger brothers, Chris and Tyler, come in with their friend James. (sorry no pictures of them.) The guys also had some training last Thursday night for FF. I have some fun pictures from that.

They had to practice with the hoses and the trucks. (see the 2 guys sitting on top, moments after I took this picture, the nozzle broke and they happened to notice, so it was good that were testing it and not having to use it right then.)
John and Jeff turning on the thing-a-ma-bob and shutting off the whatcya-ma-call-it! The guys rolling out the hoses.

Rachel says this picture reminds her of top gun.

My muscular husband hard at work...

Jeff is rolling the hose back up...

My cute husband (I made him stop for a picture)

Jeff using his muscles...

John and Jeff are fully certified and covered by the insurance to drive the trucks... John was enjoying this opportunity...

Jeff was his eyes on the ground. They did the training at the marina and there were a lot of vehicles with boat trailers attached, so there was a lot to maneuver around.

Cody and Clark attached the engine to the waterline that feeds from the lake. (That's Cody's fiance watching them.

One more pose. Isn't he cute..All in all it was a productive training class for the guys.

This coming weekend is the Eddy's Ice Cream Block Party! It is a FREE ice cream party that I won in honor of the fire hall and the rescue hall. I will have lots of pictures of that I'm sure.

Summer time...

2009-07-15T15:21:00.005-04:00

We have had a great summer. I haven't been cooking too much because we have been busy and grilling out a lot. Pretty boring I know. I do have a couple of recipes to show off later, but for now I wanted to share a couple of fun photos from this summer.

John and I were on one of our 'bookstore' dates when we stumbled across this.....
Mall Cops, hard at work.... (too funny)

We recently went to the drive-in to see a movie (pretty bad experience not deserving of its own blog post). This was a little while before they started the movie. (#29 complete, but I hope I get to redo this one and have a better go at it.)

Rachel and I have enjoyed spending a little time going to garage sales the past few weekends. It has also been very hot. This was after I mistakenly opened the fridge to get a water and realized how great it felt. I know, bad for the electric bill....

Last night we decided to give the dogs a bath. That was nothing short of entertaining for Jeff and Rachel, who took these pictures. Brinks was just nasty. John kept making terrible faces. And 'B' just kept shaking all over us! Too funny!

We see how John helps, he played most of the time while I scrubbed Spooky. She didn't mind the bath though because she loved the attention. (yes I decided to stand in the water for Spooky because she weights about 60 lbs. and I wanted to be close to her.)

I hope to get to blog some other fun stuff and recipes this week. Everyone have a great Wednesday night!

My guests....

2009-07-07T14:39:00.003-04:00

So, I'm not talking about Rob & Ruth or Kim & Jamie. I'm talking about 'the big boy', 'the small boy' and 'little girl'! As you know I volunteer at the SPCA here in Roanoke. I get emails every week about what I can do to help. A lot of the emails are foster requests that they send out to everyone. Yes, we are fostering these 3 little rug-rats for 3 weeks!

They loved the empty waste basket. I think they like that it is wicker and they can scratch on it.

How can you not love this face....

I don't know if it is possible for there to be triplet kittens but other than the fact that each one one is a slightly different size, they are completely identical right now. They all have the same markings and fur. I will take more pictures of them to share over the next few weeks.

By letting these 3 runts hangout in my master bath/bedroom for 3 weeks I am insuring that they stayed alive; they get to move from the shelter (that euthanizes) to the SPCA (no kill). They will be old enough to be fixed and given their final shots when they return at the end of their three week stay with us. This isn't something that I imagine we will do often since we have some very angry cats of our own right now, and we go in and out of town a lot and to work. John and I just really wanted to get one litter off that list. 3 weeks is nothing in our lives and so much for these little ones.

I didn't spend much time researching, but I found these important and helpful links for anyone who needs help or knows someone who needs help finding an affordable place to take their pets to get them fixed. Please pass them on.

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/spayneuter/

http://www.spayusa.org/

http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html

Roses....

2009-07-07T14:31:00.005-04:00

I have had some really beautiful roses in my garden the last few weeks. Here are some pictures of them....

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-06T22:00:00.002-04:00

I hope everyone had a great and safe weekend. John and I had a busy and fun weekend celebrating Independence Day. Before we even got out of the driveway on Friday we were celebrating with authentic Mexican food... I know, not traditional burgers and stuff, we had that plenty over the weekend too but, while we were waiting to leave our house we raided Jesus and Rocio's food stash. They had fresh made tortillas that were still warm. They also had amazing cheese so we made little cheese tortillas. It was amazing. Over the course of the weekend we also had cheese stuffed peppers, cheesy gorditata's, and grilled cheese quesadilla's with home made guacamole. It was all delicious.

We then headed to the lake and played on the water and had fun with all our friends.
Kim & John playing on the water...

Kim realizing she could have used the rescue whistle when her and John broke down on the water.... Luckily someone towed them back...
Eventually we made our way to the grill for some more food. The guys were busy repairing the jet ski from an incident with a plastic bag and stick, I went ahead and started the grill. So I was the grill master. It got dark so Jesus let me borrow his snazzy headlamp. I look like a goofball.
from right: me, John, Rocio, & Crystal...
The next day we found our way to the water fast. Jesus joined us...

here is Kim, me, and Kim's friend Jamie...

Jeff was fishing with Jessie, Crystal and Mike's little girl...Then Jeff had to show her how to undo your line if it is stuck in the water... (insert laughter)

back to fishing, Jesus, Rob (Rachel's dad), Jeff and Jessie hanging out in the boat...

then the guys settled in for a game of horseshoes... Jeff has a serious face...

John has a solid throw with a follow through... (Rob, John, and Jeff) Rachel and Jeff took a little ride on the paddle boat...

Rachel's parents took a little tour of the lake. (Rob & Ruth)

we decided to go ahead and start dinner at a decent hour so we could get to the fireworks... Here I am again helping out with the grill....

Then a bunch of us took off on a boat ride to the fireworks...Kim snapped this shot of us at the fireworks show...

They were absolutely beautiful....

.......

......

some of the ladies enjoying the fireworks show... Sarah, Alana, Kim, Jamie....

Me and John...

This was Jesus and Rocio's first Independence Day celebration... They LOVED the fireworks display...

We were on two boats and waited for the boat traffic to clear before heading back to Andy's house....

We had a great weekend and got to rest up on a rainy day on Sunday... it was great to have friends and family come visit and spend such a fun time together....

Check back soon for a glimpse at our current house guests....

What most refer to as bowling....

2009-06-29T15:25:00.006-04:00

So we discover Friday night after volunteering, that maybe we should stick to the Wii.

Here are some shots we took in the dark bowling alley....

John, showing off...

Me pretending that I'm good. I did get a couple strikes and spares...

Rachel and I had about the same luck throughout the night, but still had fun...

And one of the funniest parts of the night, captured on film... Jeff took a turn...

And you can see both his anguish and his lonely pin left standing....

We played 2 games. In the first game, John won, Rachel came in 2nd, Jeff and came in 3rd and only beat me by 2 points. In the second game, John won again, then Jeff in 2nd, and beat me by 3 points- I came in 3rd and Rachel came in 4th. It was fun even thought the floor was so slippery that we had to walk funny, which doesn't work in bowling. And the ball really did whatever it wanted as it approached the pins because of the floor. We had free tickets from when the guys donated blood, so it was worth it in the end.

#2 Volunteer at the Rescue Mission!

2009-06-29T14:50:00.005-04:00

John and I had an opportunity to volunteer at the Rescue Mission Friday night. Rachel and Jeff tagged along and we met up with our church there. It was so much fun! I can't wait to do it again. I love volunteering and helping others. Rachel and I helped serve the food and the guys helped out on the dish machine. It was a great experience, and made me realize how absurd I am when I open up my overflowing pantry door and stare at it blankly thinking I don't know what to eat. Heck, I have a can opener and a can of veggies, and that is more than some have that eat at the Rescue Mission. God is so good to the Mission. They get all there food by donation and most of the staff is volunteer based. My favorite part is that the people come in get dinner and are allowed to stay the night if they are willing to go to the church service there at the Mission. There are also showers and a laundry facility for them to use.

Here are some pictures of us inbetween serving.

Maryanna...
Jeff on dish...

Greg helping with the dishes...

John was helping with dishes and stocking the serving line with dishes...

Maryanna, me, and Rachel, and a couple of the youth volunteers behind us...

All of the volunteers from our church:

Kristi (me), John, Rachel, Jeff, Maryanna, a youth member, Greg and a few more youth volunteers...

Day 8 and 9 of our trip!

2009-06-29T13:44:00.011-04:00

On our final 2 days of our trip we did a lot. On day 8 we drove from Syracuse to Buffalo. I was really excited about this part of the trip....

We went for.... WINGS!!!

Before...

After....

We stopped at none other than the Anchor Bar. Home of the original Buffalo Chicken Wing!!!

After lunch we took a hop and a skip over to Niagara Falls. We stayed state side for this visit.

I snapped a picture of this picture because it was amazing to see. It all started with a large chunk of ice that clogged up the water upstream. It is really cool to see a picture of this.

John and I checked out all parts of the falls. This is the American Falls...

American Falls...

This is a view of the Canadian side from the American Side... that is where John and I visited the last time we went...

We stood at the edge and you could feel the spray of water...

This is the Horseshoe Falls (the Canadian part of the falls.)

It is so cool to see the water just disappear.

It creates a beautiful color...

This is a picture of the stream rushing towards the falls.

And this little guy was in the park there. None of us had ever seen a black squirrel with a brown tail. It was so cool to see.

On our last day, before we drove all the way back to VA, we took a detour with the team. We got to go to Cooperstown, NY, to the Baseball Hall of Fame. John and I had never been there.

This is a picture of the scanned line-up card from the 1979 World Series game when John's dad was playing with the Pirates.

This is John standing in the Hall of Fame.

Here he is posing with a statue of Babe Ruth...

After the Hall of Fame we had to get on the road back home. I think there was some sort of Hot Air Balloon Festival in West VA/ VA, because we kept seeing balloons.

It was a pretty and sunny ride back. We made it home a safe and sound.

We hope to get to go to Canada again in a couple years. We were so blessed to get to go!

Day 5, 6, and 7 of our vacation!

2009-06-29T12:57:00.016-04:00

On day 5 John got to hang out with his dad, Tim, and go fishing together. Apparently there was a large fish caught and a picture taken with John's camera phone. That picture didn't save properly, so here we have a classic story of it was

this

[----------------------------------------------------------------------------]

big

(according to John it was 23 inches or something. Whatever, they had fun and Ginette and I teased John about not having a picture)

That night and again on Day 6 we played cards together. It's one of our favorite things to do when we are all together. Here are some pictures of us playing cards.... the dogs do not know how to play... lol!

Ginette and I hung out around the house of day 5 and did some shopping on day 6. I'll show you my favorite find...
And Here I am napping with all the dogs....
Finally on day 7 it was pretty enough to get to go to a game. Here is the field. It is next to an old train boarding area.... (see foreground of picture...)

Ginette and I went to eat lunch at the park with the ladies and got to see the team warming up. John was dressed like the team and like his dad. It was so fun to see. Here is John with his mom and dad- Ginette and Tim.

Here are I am with John and Tim.

I got to see John hit a few balls. he was hitting pretty good considering he doesn't play for a living.

Here is Tim pitching to John. I know they had fun together...

John getting ready to swing...

I love my smart and athletic husband.... So cute...

Here they are lined up at the game during the singing of the national anthem.John got to walk the line-up card out to the umps and opposing manager. This is the first time he ever got to do this... AND he got to do it twice because it was a double header! How fun!

here he is chatting about the secret stuff they chat about out there....And on with the game...

Our trip to canada day 3 and 4!

2009-06-29T11:02:00.017-04:00

Day 3 and 4 of our trip consisted mostly of just hanging out and touring around the area. I took way too many pictures and believe it or not, I narrowed it down to a small amount...

Here we have uncle Bob showing us his rock...

It's pretty cool isn't it...

Bob's dogs... Sparky and Teddy...

Bob and John imitating Sparky and Teddy...

This tree in the front yard is the perfect sitting place...

John and I drove around for a little while to see the sites. There are a lot of lakes in the area...
This is a sign for a snow mobile crossing. Not something you see here in VA or in TN everyday...There are lots of ski resorts up there of course. And this what they look like in the summer. It is a water park now!

A red winged black bird... (sometimes confused with an oriole bird) This lake is within walking distance of their backyard. It is so beautiful.

I also discovered the Wide view on my camera. Such a beautiful view...
trying to pose in front of the lake...

There are a lot trees that look like this around the lake...

And a lot of these.... It was a huge beaver dam. We couldn't get any closer to take a better picture... Such a cool thing to see...

Later in the 3rd day we drove over to Wakefield, a small town nearby. This was a small church with a big amazing door. We had to get some pictures...

Me, aunt France, and Ginette
Me, John, and France

John and me in front of this adorable gift shop...Ginette, John, and France....

Then we headed to what they refer to as Patat??? ...

To get Poutine- (from wikipedia- Poutine is a dish consisting of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy... Poutine is a diner staple which originated in Quebec and can now be found across Canada...) I have to admit that it was just okay. I ended up not eating much of the cheese curd, but the fries with the brown gravy was fine. It reminds me of cheese fries from America. The cheese curd was just too much for me. I don't eat much cheese as it is. I know, I'm weird.
Open! I just loved seeing signs in French...

Next we headed over to the Wakefield Covered Bridge. Where I found this fun sign. It says something about poison Ivy I think.The Wakefield Covered Bridge
....

The inside of the bridge.

Ginette took a cute picture of John and me...
Outside the bridge...
Me....The covered bridge from far away...

from inside the covered bridge, this is a picture of the bridge people use now...
We got back to the house and Bob had his bike out for us to pose on... (Ginette)

Bob and me posing...

au revoir!

bonjour encore! We only went to the end of the driveway and back. But it was fun...

Ginette took this picture of me under a tree in the back yard...

France with all the the dogs. From left, Teddy, Sparky, Missy Winston, Princess. Princess is the mother of all the other dogs...

A blue jay hanging out at the feeder...

some of the birds share their dinner with the chipmunks... They were so cute...

And then there was this pesty guy... He jumped from a tree on the left, and scurries across the poll...

then he attempts to dump out the feeder so that he can eat it all off the ground.

After a wonderful dinner together we took one last group picture: Me with Missy, John with Princess, Bob with Sparky, France with Teddy, and Ginette with Winston...

John helping Bob clean up a little before we left.

We were blessed with a safe trip and made it across the border with no problems both ways. We had such a good time and hope to go in the winter time some time in the coming years so that we can enjoy the slopes and the Aurora Borealis.

Don't forget to see more of our trip in the next post....

Our trip to Canada Day 1 and 2!!!

2009-06-29T09:28:00.009-04:00

John and I were blessed with a chance to drive up to Syracuse, NY and Canada to see his parents and family... We had a rough week prior to the trip, with our car in the shop, so we ended up renting a very nice car through our warranty, and even saved our mileage- Blessing in disguise.

John and me getting ready to leave the house...

I was playing with my camera in the car. I think we were just into the state of NY at this point...

Sepia setting on the camera... John watching the traffic with deep thought...

Black and White setting.... John, again with concentration. He drove the whole way. I think he thought I didn't want to drive...

We finally arrived in Syracuse... John's mom, Ginette made us an awesome salad for dinner, then she and I went driving around seeing the little town of Manlius...

This is the duck pond in Manlius. I think it is the main attraction...

Or maybe the main attraction is this. It is an ice cream stand. We stopped and got some. It was okay, funny how the crowd was so HUGE. It was right next to a couple of baseball fields. Fun little town...

Then Ginette took me to the fancy grocery store there. I got to play with the sunset setting on my camera. So much fun.

Another shot...The grocery store had the BIGGEST candy section I've ever seen. No, I didn't eat any....

When we left, We played around with the settings again to capture the moon. It was a gorgeous night....

The second day of our trip took us to Ottawa, Canada. This is the capital of all of Canada.
A close up of one the old buildings...

We were in the province of Quebec. They speak french. I could listen to Ginette talk in French all day. I love it. I decided that I am going to learn to speak some French before we go back next time, so that I can understand more.

We headed away from the city, to John's uncles house. Such a beautiful place.

More sunset pictures...

Greetings!!! (from left, John, his aunt France, Uncle Bob, and Ginette getting out of the car)
The land has a natural spring and a cute little pond. So we all took a walk there. Here is John-walking Winston, France, Bob- walking Princess, and Ginette- walking Missy...

Bob has kept up the yard since they moved into the house that used to be John's grandfathers and grandmothers. He does an amazing job. We spent some time walking around just enjoying the plants and trees. I love the bark on these trees. And the azalea's looked beautiful!

This is a beautiful lilac tree...

We ended our second day on our trip hanging out with Uncle Bob and France. John of course had to check out Bob's Anniversary edition Harley. Nice ride...

Checking it out with Uncle Bob... My handsome husband enjoying the time with his uncle...

I even had to get in on the action...

Sneak Peek...

2009-06-19T15:13:00.005-04:00

John and I were blessed with a chance to go to Canada and Syracuse, NY last week for our Summer Vacation. We had way too much fun. I took so many pictures and we did so much that I wanted to blog about each day, or at least a couple of days at a time. We are going to visit my family this weekend so I won't be able to get to it until next week. So I thought I would leave you with a few sneak peek pictures of the week. I hope everyone has a great weekend and Happy Father's day Dad and Tim!!!

I learned that my camera has a sunset feature. This is the sun setting in Manlius, NY.
That's John, the little spec on the field near second base. He got to practice and hangout with the Syracuse Chiefs.

Wakefield Canada. It was so beautiful there.

John with Sparky and Teddy.

Good Ole Canadian Flag. Note that going to Canada was on my 101 in a 1001 list! Check number 51 off the list!!!

Stay tuned for more next week....

Garden updates....

2009-06-19T14:40:00.011-04:00

I just realized as I started to show off my flowers, that I haven't blogged about them in 2 months!!! A lot of things have happened in the garden since then. These are pictures I took yesterday. I am so glad that some roses actually managed to grow with my brown, black spotted thumb! It is a chore to manage, but well worth it so that I can show it off.

A beautiful rose in the front garden. (I recently mastered the Macro setting on my camera)

I can't remember what these are called. Ignore the grass. We've been out of town and we hadn't got to the back yard yet.

These yellow roses are nearing the end, but there were so many I had to get a shot. There were so many more that had bloomed while I was gone. Too bad.

A white rose in the back garden.

This picture refuses to turn the way I upload it. I'm sure I had some goofy setting on my camera forcing it to do this. Oh well. Just tilt your head to the left... There ya go...
This is not a very good picture, and that is why I wanted to show it to you. On vacation last week, I read some of the manual that came with my camera. I learned what settings to use for some things, and this is a picture I took before I knew what to do.
Isn't Brinks the sweetest dog ever... I thought I would leave you with this adorable face...

Congratulations John!

2009-06-19T10:25:00.007-04:00

John has been going through firefighter 1 training since the beginning of January. He has gone every single Wednesday and every other Sunday since then. He has studied very hard with Jeff. AND they both passed! I have a few pictures from the graduation. My camera battery was dying, so I didn't get very good pictures of him excepting his certificate, but I have some great pictures of after the ceremony.

This is John and Jeff with Russel, one of their many instructors.

A few of the guys from our fire department came to the ceremony. From left: Chief-Eric, Richie, John, instructor- Lee, Jeff, and Terry

Jeff and John with their friend, Saunders, from the neighboring station in our area.

Our great friend Andy also made it to the ceremony. I John was very happy he was able to be there. (Jeff, Andy, John.)

John and me
Rachel and Jeff...

We all went out to eat after the ceremony at the Liberty Station, an old train station turned restaurant. It was delicious and we will definitely go there again in the future. We somehow convinced our very nice server to let us try a dessert. We were all stuffed but we all passed it around to get a taste. I am so proud of John. He will always have training courses to take to keep up to date, but this was a big hurdle and the longest class he will have to take. I love that he commits himself to the community and our relationship. There will be times that he is about to sit down to dinner or fix the thing-a-ma-bob for me, and get called for his service. Being a firefighter is a continuous commitment. The fire department here is all volunteer and I know his services are appreciated and needed. I love you babe!

Happy Belated Birthday...

2009-06-18T12:44:00.002-04:00

I was out of town for one of my best friend Rachel's birthday. So, she got to open her birthday gift a little early. Jeff's mom just happened to come in to town that weekend too, so Rachel got to open some of her birthday gifts a little early (lucky girl).

Her is Rachel looking at a gift that Jeff's mom put together for Rachel. It has a bunch of baby pictures of Jeff and family pictures. It was a really thoughtful gift and Rachel will always have some great pictures of Jeff. There were some great pictures, but I won't embarrass Jeff!
Okay, maybe a peek!Here is Rachel opening her gift from John and me.

I introduced Rachel last year to the wonderful world of Bath & Body Works. She needed a cute oil burner and some new scents. I wrapped it in a cute little picture box!

Fun in the sun...

2009-06-18T12:16:00.005-04:00

One of my best friends, Katherine, and her boyfriend Ryan, came up to Roanoke at the end of May to visit us. Here are some pictures of us enjoying the weekend. We had tons of fun.

We attended the local BBQ festival... it was more than delicious...

We also spent a few hours at the lake. Relaxing and enjoying the sunny day...
Here is Ryan pulling John...

Here is John pulling Katherine and me on the tube... I must admit it is pretty scary for me since I don't enjoy the water like most people. Katherine got a real kick out of me screaming to slow down the whole time. I am such a chicken!...

Here is John pulling Ryan. I think they had tons of fun playing...

John and I even took a turn at riding on the jet ski together. We rarely ride together anymore. It was really fun...

I took Katherine for a ride. Neither one of us really wanted to get soaked.

We relaxed in the sun/shade on the tube.

Us floating around...

Katherine catching some rays...

Our friend Chance also stopped by to join us in the fun. He had never boarded before but was successful in getting on his feet...

While we were there, we also enjoyed the visit from the momma and baby ducks. They were really young...

The sun was going down so we left them to play in the calm water...
All in all we had a great and fun filled weekend. I hope we get to go visit with them in Tennessee again soon!

Time....

2009-06-18T12:15:00.000-04:00

It's been some time since I posted, and I apologize! I have lots to blog about and plan to do so very soon! Stay tuned for lots of fun pictures!

Memorial Day weekend 2009!

2009-06-01T15:46:00.009-04:00

Memorial Day weekend was so much fun... I took so many fun pictures. I had to share on here with friends and family....

John took my family to see the station. Bryce loved it.

Bryce in the tanker....

Bryce in another truck...

John and Bryce looking at all the buttons....

Bryce listening to... well nothing at the time, but he kept pretending that he was talking to someone...

Bryce and my dad checking out the old fire truck...

John was getting ready to honk the horn and Bryce thought it was going to be really loud...

Bryce trying a helmet on...

Bryce pretending to drive....

Bryce again....

Of course we did spend some time at the lake over the weekend. These pictures are from the whole weekend with all of our friends and family. Andy was nice enough to let me bring my family over to his place to play....

here is Jeff and John playing in the water...

The guys played some horse shoes- John and Andy...

Mike and Jeff- Jeff I'm sure would appreciate it if I mentioned that him and John beat Mike and Andy...

Andy took us for a ride in the pontoon boat. Bryce called it the party boat... Here he is snacking and chillin' with John...

The highlight of Bryce's visit with us was that he got drive the boat! For real! Andy sat and stood behind him to make sure we were all safe. Apparently there isn't an age limit to how old you have to be to drive a boat in VA, but there is on a jet ski... scary....

He thought he was the coolest thing ever...

My mom and dad relaxing- and hoping Andy wouldn't let Bryce crash the boat!!!

John and Kristi (me) relaxing too...

Bryce enjoyed playing on the tube while it was tied to the dock.

He kept inventing names for his dives...

Bryce and John riding on the jet ski... He wanted to race everyone...

My dad was having fun too....

Bryce and John again.
Mom and me on the left and John and Bryce on the right-racing of course...
My mom and Me playing in the water....

Kim got to come up also for the holiday weekend. She hadn't been up to visit her kitty since we moved here. Here she is hanging out with Chelsea....

WET PAINT!

2009-05-18T14:35:00.015-04:00

Finally!!!!

I have been waiting to paint for forever! We painted the living room, hallway, dining room, and kitchen all in one day! I of course had help! Rachel, Jeff, John, and I spent all day taping, painting, and then painting some more. I was so excited to see the finished product. So here are some before and after pictures!

Dining Room Before....

Dining room after...

Living Room before...

Living Room After...

Kitchen before...
Kitchen After...

Hallway after... (no before pictures, you get the idea- it was white!)

Here are some fun shots on paint day...

Completed #74 & #75!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2009-05-12T10:48:00.004-04:00

I hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful day Sunday. We were able to spend some time with my mom and nephew on Sunday. After Church we went to lunch at Johnny Carino's and then hung out for a while...
We got my mom this beautiful orchid for Mothers Day. She loves flowers...

A belated birthday gift... I have been wanting to brag about the little pool/beach bag that I put together for my mom's birthday, but I had to wait until I gave it to her... I hope she enjoys using this on her vacation to Florida this summer!

I just snapped this shot of my nephew with John. He is getting so big. We played sonic on the Wii with him on Sunday and it was so fun. It was nice to just sit with mom and watch them play. I can't wait til they come visit!!!

Bryce and John...

B-E-A-U-tiful wedding...

2009-05-12T09:33:00.003-04:00

We had a great time at our friends' wedding on Saturday. Our friend Andy married Heather, who is just so fun. We can't wait to have them come visit us in Roanoke. Here are some fun pictures from their special day.
The couple Mr. and Mrs.....

One of my favorite details of their wedding... The wedding was simple but so beautiful...
They had amazing cakes... (note the little motorcycle was not part of the cake table-it belonged to a little boy who thought it looked cool there!)

I loved their flowers. The Bridesmaid bouquet had little pearls in it to match the necklace...

Me and John... (I don't know why I am making that funny face... but check out the shoes-they aren't flip-flops!)

Jeff & Rachel...

More friends from ETSU... Greg and his fiance, Chelsea...

Jeff, Andy, John, and Greg.... We know Andy from ETSU. He was always the dependable guy with a good heart and would do anything for you if he could.... We are so happy he found Heather...

Their adorable Groom's cake. Him and John share their passion for fishing...

We can't wait for Andy & Heather and Greg & Chelsea to come visit...

Fireproof Finale...

2009-05-12T09:13:00.003-04:00

Last Sunday, (I know I am a week behind), we went to our last Fireproof group meeting. I am going to miss seeing this weekly meeting. It was nice to sit and learn about relationships with our significant other and with God. We hope to meet still and just work on learning more and laughing and funny enough, we are thinking about doing Bible drills. Ya know, like teenagers and younger kids do. It sounds silly but we jokingly talked about it and did a couple drills and it was really fun. Okay, so anyways, I have some fun pictures to share.

This is the gang after the meeting enjoying strawberry shortcake and brownies. From Left: Greg and Maryanna, Sandra and Lynn, John and Mary, Kristi (me) and John.

Greg and Maryanna with a little bit of John on the side...

(this was after we tried to cook a grape in the microwave.) Sandra and Lynn... (Sandra cut her finger so she hasn't been able to play softball. I hope it is heeling so she doesn't have to keep going back to the clinic-sketchy place)

Mary and John... The sweetest couple ever... John is the slightly older version of my John-he took notes on how to 'cook' grapes and make 'big' sparklers!)
This is Greg and Maryanna's dog Libby. She loved the attention and I loved sharing some love with her and scratching those big ears...

God's plan...

2009-05-08T15:40:00.005-04:00

(Sunset from our front porch)

Sometimes God has something planned for you, that you just don't foresee. John and I didn't make it to the Strawberry Festival and Chili Cook-Off here in Roanoke last Saturday. Instead, we made it to Augusta, GA to be with our dear friends Jeff and Rachel. Jeff's step-dad died in a car accident last Wednesday night. God has a reason for everything. Whether this be as simple as to bring Jeff and his mom closer or something we just don't see right now, he has a plan. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers and thank you to all of you who kept us all in your prayers for safe travels down and back. We love Jeff and Rachel like a brother and sister and wish we could lift the burden from their heavy hearts. Glenn was an amazing man. He was talented, smart, brave and a great step-dad to Jeff. He will be missed.

No matter what you have planned or hope to get to do in the future, I pray that you make God a part of it.

Yay! Go team!

2009-04-29T09:07:00.002-04:00

So our softball team isn't exactly the best in the league. BUT!!! Last night I actually hit the ball and got an RBI. I was really excited to be able to contribute to the game. All that training that John and Jeff have been helping with in practice is starting to pay off. Just had to tell everyone.

Also, updates for this coming weekend- the Strawberry Festival and Chili Cook-off are scheduled for this Saturday, Lord willing it won't rain and put a damper on the fun. I love this kind of stuff. I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday!

I'll leave you with this picture I took after the softball game last night.

A greeting from the Star City of the South...

Water...

2009-04-27T21:15:00.005-04:00

A lot of people are confused when I tell them I am afraid of water. They don't understand how I can not want to be in it or splash around in it. Everyone wants to know if my mom dropped me in the pool or something when I was a little kid. The answer is no, there was no life altering moment when I decided I didn't like the water-that I know of. I just don't like getting it in my nose, or eyes, or ears or face. I do however think it is a beautiful thing. So I snapped a few pictures out at the lake. My artsy take on water.

Beautiful weather means we're at the lake

2009-04-27T16:41:00.012-04:00

We have a great friend of ours, Andy...

who always invites us to the lake. He lives for having fun and friends to share his space with. This past weekend he invited us, other fellow employees that John works with, and some visiting engineers from Mexico, to come out and enjoy the water. The water was really cold but that didn't stop us. I took lots of fun pictures of everyone enjoying the festivities.

Me and Charlotte

Tyler on the tube

John pulling Tyler...

Jesus (pronounced hey-zoo-s)

Mike catching some fish...

John on the wake board...

Andy making some waves

The cove (out and to the right leads to the rest of (Smith Mountain Lake)

John pulling Jeff on the wake board

Rachel taking Ty for a spin on the jet ski...

Me and Charlotte again...

Charlotte and me.... note this is before she lost her hat and we had to try to pick it up on the water, ALMOST falling in and therefore soaking the two ladies who didn't want to be in the water.

Carlos in the kayak

Sam trying to figure it out....Jesus and Rocio...

Hernando, Hugo (pronounced who-go) and Andy... They were re-screwing the seat down after an adventurous ride where whoever was sitting there maybe flew threw the air. I wish I had been on the boat to see that.
Rocio and Jesus (Rocio is also not thrilled with the idea of being in the lake water-just like me. She is going to be a great friend. Her and her husband, Jesus, have only lived here for about 6 months. She is going to teach me how to make authentic Mexican food! I am going to help her in anyway I can here in America)

Tyler gliding in the kayak

Charlotte, Rachel and Rocio

John getting ready to stand up on his jet ski...

Mike and Crystal...

John docking his jet ski...

Jeff cruisin' the lake

Tyler...

At the end of the night, as always, we grilled out-burgers, hot dogs, brats, and chicken burritos- and ended the night with a movie outside. We watched Transformers (how appropriate for the men who all work at a company that makes Transformers.) John and Andy designed this little fixture last summer to hold up the sheet as the screen. It is so nice sitting out under the stars listening to the fish splash. It is the truest definition of enjoying summer.

#62 Make 3 frozen dinners to give to someone who could really use the break

2009-04-27T15:08:00.004-04:00

A fellow designer that I work with, fell and broke her foot. She has to wear one of those boots and may still have to have surgery to repair the damage. I felt really bad for her as she has a daughter and her brother who lost a pet and all his belongings in a fire last year, who live with her. I knew that I had to help in some way. So #62 it is! I have to say I am proud of myself for fixing all these dinners in the time I did. I made 5 dinners from start to freezer in 3 hours! And while I was at it I made extra pasta and such for my dinner the next night.

The list:

-Beef Enchilada's

-Shepherd's pie

-Penne Pasta Bake

I delivered them the next day. I made instruction cards on how to prepare. I left one out and ready to cook with her brother. She said he isn't much of a cook but I told her that he should be able to help. It felt so good to help out someone in need. I also took her the Nicholas Sparks book that I just finished reading, 'The Choice'.

the dinners being transported...

Softball time in VA!

2009-04-27T14:13:00.004-04:00

Rachel and I recently jointed the softball team through the church that John and I attend. We kinda had no choice as I mentioned we had played in the past to one of the older ladies on our team, and consequently, we were recruited because of our experience from a decade ago and our age! And consequently John and Jeff got recruited as our coaches! So we are all getting out for a little exercise at games and practice. I thought I would share a few pictures from one of the games. Jeff took these and didn't know how to use some of the extra functions, but I think they turned out kinda artsy and cool! Thanks Jeff!

I've been playing 3rd base. It's going okay. I've only gotten plowed over once. And I think I have made 2 outs so far.

Rachel plays a couple different position but prefers 2nd. She has been involved in a couple plays/outs and even stepped on a lady. lol! It was an accident and the lady was fine (and out)!

This was one of the Artsy pictures I was talking about!

This is Rachel fielding a ball.

Rachel got to 1st, but I unfortunately, didn't get to 2nd fast enough. Running fast isn't what I'm known for but I tried. I am the blur behind Rachel in this picture.

That's all for now. I'm sure we will have more pictures to show off our "talent" as the season goes along.

#19 [Get] a new reusable water bottle!!!

2009-04-27T14:02:00.005-04:00

Thank you Katherine! I love my new water bottle she got me. i am using it right this minute. I brought apple fruit punch with my lunch today! I was very excited to get it in the mail. John actually got it and thought it was a bomb! (not really but it was humerus at the time!!) In addition to the water bottle she also sent me an envelope of seeds from her flowers. I hope to get them in the ground this week! Thank you Katherine for the thoughtful gift! I will be sure to take pictures of the flowers when they bloom.

Note the seeds are for Orange Cosmos and the bottle is BPA free! Perfect gift right around Earth Day! I hope everyone took a moment to think about what they could do to help protect our planet!

This is what an orange cosmo looks like (image found through google images)

#81 Plant flowers in the yard!!!

2009-04-27T13:43:00.005-04:00

This one has been very fun and time consuming. I would have never thought that starting a garden would be this involved. Ginette, John's mom, gave me her rose bushes from her yard, since she will not be home this summer to take care of them and will be moving in the fall. I was VERY excited, she is amazing with them. I was also very nervous because transplanting plants isn't always successful. I am still not out of the woods yet but they are looking better everyday! I plated some in the front and in the back. I also got some other plants to go with them. Here are some pictures of the new-to-me flowers!!!

this is the front area. The random circle was already there from the previous owner. That is where our flag pole will go one day.

A close up of one of the rose plants, with a marigold on the right and a purple-something-er-other on the left!
The back garden. Don't mind the flags, the guys are installing an underground fence and those are the markers.
this is a good example of how some are doing great and some are looking so good. The one at the top left is having to recover and the other two are much better, especially the one in the top right. I don't remember what the other little plants are called, I will come back and let you know. Since this picture I have put out more dirt and mulched the front. I will take more pictures once they start to bloom.

Enjoying the Spring/Summer!!!

2009-04-27T13:14:00.004-04:00

John and I have been busy bees the past few weeks. I have been volunteering and even convinced John to go with me to the SPCA Pancake Breakfast hosted by Applebee's and staffed by the volunteers and staff of the SPCA. I of course served the food and drinks as I was already familiar with that task. John had never worked in food service so he decided to help in the kitchen with expo- a.k.a. collecting the orders from the kitchen and distributing to the servers. He did a great job at it. They even offered him a job, but he had to decline when they told him that he would also be responsible for cleaning the toilets. So generous of them. We had a great time and the good news is that we raised $1,200 in proceeds to help out the SPCA, thanks to Applebee's!

I also went back this past Saturday morning to help out with a micro-chip clinic. You can bring your pets in and get them micro-chipped for a reduced price. This helps shelters and the SPCA get your pet back to you if they are brought in because they got lost. This was a harmless process where they just inject the rice sized chip in between your pets shoulders. I was taking the pet from the owner to the vet and back and not once the whole morning did I hear a dog or cat whimper because it possibly hurt them. It is a smart way to protect your family pet!

After volunteering Saturday we went to the Vinton Dogwood Festival to get some bar-b-que. Our church had a tent there with bar-b-que. It was so delicious. The proceeds went to help out the youth group. So two great things in one- support our church and eat bar-b-que!!! It was close to 90 degrees out. It was a gorgeous day. God blessed them with great weather.

Here is a picture of the cute apron from the pancake breakfast.

Guests!!!

2009-04-27T12:54:00.006-04:00

I love it when people come visit us here in VA. I love entertaining and cooking for people. The week before Easter, John's brother, Dan, was able to visit us on his way to PA. I made him meatloaf muffins and garlic fries. (sorry no pics). After dinner the guys decided to have a fire in our fire pit in the back yard. I snapped a couple pictures of the guys hanging out.

John and Dan...

Richie, Jeff, John, and Dan....

This weekend we had a couple of last minute guests, Tyler and Sam. Tyler is Rachel's brother and Sam is his friend from the marines. They came up to visit from Camp Lejeune, NC. I love it when he comes. He is a perfect gentleman and will make a great husband to a lucky lady one day. He also loves my cooking so they raid the refrigerator every time, and I had plenty of leftovers ready for them luckily!!!

This is a picture from the lake. Sam and Tyler...

(More pictures from the lake to come!)

Happy Easter!!!

2009-04-16T11:40:00.005-04:00

I know I am a few days late, but I have some fun pictures to show off from my families Easter celebration. We go to my Nannie Naillon's house for most big holidays. This is a big one because it is the only holiday that it is surely going to be warm enough to be outside. Our Easter weekend was packed with family, friends, food and fun!

John, Me, Dad, Mom, and Bryce after church....

Bryce- in the gray shirt, cousins and second cousins hunting Easter eggs...

I hid this egg a little too high for most of the kids, oops!

My uncle Eric and John talking guns. My aunt Ginger and I just stood there shaking our heads.... our men and their hobbies....

My cousin Chad's wife- Jennifer, Uncle Freddie's wife-Rhonda, my mom- Susie, My aunt "Tini" with her grand-daughter who really didn't care to have her picture taken...

Baked Corn Dogs!!!

2009-04-16T10:20:00.003-04:00

This was a very tasty idea! I really love corn dogs. I have to avoid mustard right now because it will stain my rubber bands on my braces. So, the night before I went to the orthodontist, I decided it would be a good night for corn dogs with mustard, lots of it! I had this recipe that I found over at Big Red Kitchen's blog. I did a variation of her recipe/idea.

Ingredients:

2 boxes of jiffy corn muffin mix(follow directions on box to make the mix, you will need to boxes, 2 eggs, and 2/3 cup of milk.)
6-8 hot dogs (I used ball park franks

Directions:

preheat oven to 400 degrees
follow directions on the Jiffy corn muffin package
grease baking dish (I think I used a 7x11 or something close to that dimension)
pour batter in dish and gently place the hot dogs in the batter-about an inch apart
bake for about 25 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test!
slice in the middle of the bread between the dogs.

Just top with your favorite fixins- mustard or ketchup!

(even Jeff-who detests hot dogs, ate 1! They were MMmmm good! What I'll do different next time: remember to spray the baking dish and make a few more!!!)

#85-90 complete!!!!

2009-04-15T15:39:00.008-04:00

God blessed me with Ginette and she just happens to loves to make curtains! I am so happy with the end results. I now have curtains in my bathroom, bedroom, living room, kitchen, office and guest bedroom. I walk in my house everyday and do a double take to see how the sun is shimmering in through the beautiful fabric in my living room and bedroom. Yes, I have pictures... Thanks again Ginette for everything you did. We love you!

Master Bathroom...

Master Bedroom windows...

Living room window....

Kitchen window...

Office window...

Guest Bedroom window...

And in addition to all those curtains, Ginette also made me some nice accessories to match... Note that the cats LOVE these accessories! She made a pad to fit on the chest at the end of our bed, a pad for the dresser where our Chelsea always lays (not pictured-that's Pebbles), a pillow, and a decorative pad that Wumples is laying on in the box on the floor...

#25 Check!!!

2009-04-01T13:19:00.003-04:00

#25 on my 101 things to do in 1001 days, is a really big deal for John and I. Yes, we got newer (used) car! We recently decided that it was time to move on from the cavalier and get a car that we could feel comfortable driving up to New York and Canada in. We are very excited. I am especially excited because we got my one of 'dream' cars, a Nissan Murano!

Features Black with Black Leather interior

All wheel drive/4 wheel drive
Sunroof, heated seats, and driver settings memory!
Nice storage (the trunk springs were broken on the cavalier, and had to be held up)

It has a 6-disc changer and separate temperature controls for the driver & passenger sides of the car. It also has all kinds of features that I didn't even know were out there.

Best part- it has air conditioning! The cavaliers' air had been out for the past 3 summers. I am so spoiled now. God blessed us with a great deal through Carmax. John would probably tell you about other features that are his favorites, like the transmission is smooth or something. We'll just let him tell you about it!!! Overall, we are extremely satisfied with it.

(Note: I haven't named her yet. I'll note that here when I do. I'm indecisive.)

Sneak Peak of #86

2009-04-01T09:57:00.006-04:00

As I mentioned last week, my mother in law, Ginette, was in town visiting. We hadn't seen her in forever so she decided to come up and help us with an item on my 101 list. She was a busy bee. We went and picked out fabrics for the living room, office, guest room, and kitchen, and we picked out some pre-made panels to modify and use for the master bedroom and bathroom. She worked all week and completed most of the panels on top of fixing every single pair of pants that needed hemmed, patched, etc., and made dinner almost every night! She truly is amazing. The best part is that we are blessed by God to have such a smart woman in our presence. She is a wealth of knowledge about the bible and God's word. Anyways, here is a couple pictures she took of John and I this week. You can see the living room panels in the background! Once it is painted, it will really make the room finished.

John and me (Kristi) posing in front of the curtains

John and me holding Winston, Missy, & Princess (from left to right) Ginette's furbabies

I'll post more pictures, including before and afters, of all of the pics soon!

Spring is in the air....

2009-03-31T09:35:00.003-04:00

We have had tons of rain here lately, and there is plenty more to come this week. This morning was a beautiful start to my day though. It is sunny and the sky is a pretty blue. The birds are definitely out, as my empty bird feeder reveals. Spring is truly my favorite time of year. This morning I especially felt that happy spring feeling when I saw something special in the sky...

I could have watched it all day. Sadly, I had to scoot on to work. John surprised me on my 19Th birthday with a Hot Air Balloon ride. It was a cold Sunday, December 5Th, morning and it was a great surprise. The landing was tricky but the ride was truly amazing. You could hear the cows and dogs. We even had people who took pictures of us from the ground. It was really a treat to experience.

(note: i am gonna post a pic here...later.)

Visit from the MIL....

2009-03-23T21:23:00.006-04:00

MIL=Mother In Law. We are having so much fun. Ginette arrived in VA on Friday. We kicked off the fun weekend with a game of Catch Phrase! We played until 1 AM. Rachel, Ginette and I played against John and Jeff. On Saturday Ginette, Rachel and I went shopping for window treatments for my house. Ginette is very talented when it come to explaining God's word and making curtains! On Sunday we went to church and then out to lunch at Ruby's to use some coupons we saved up. After finding more curtain fabrics and rods, we headed to our cluster group meeting for the Fireproof study we are doing with our church. I truly enjoy getting to learn from Ginette. She commands a room like no other with her knowledge and spirit. (I'm not just saying all this because she is going to read this, but because I love her and want her to know we appreciate her so much.) I look forward to learning more from her, as always, and playing more Catch Phrase this week!

Here we are making eggs at the fire hall after the Fireproof cluster meeting. We put Ginette to work!

Stay tuned for more on the curtains! Yes they are on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days! Check out my list to see what all I have been up to.

Catching up on the blog!

2009-03-19T22:00:00.004-04:00

I need to catch up on everything that has been going on. A few weeks ago we had a pretty big snow. We got about 10 inches at our house. It melted with in a day or two. These pictures were taken the day before we got the 10 inches.

John and I went 4-wheeling in the snow.

Last Saturday morning I volunteered with the SPCA at an adopt-a-thon. This is the dog that I helped transport. He was a strong dog. He was definitely not leash trained either. It was fun to help.

Last Saturday night John and Jeff played in an all day softball tournament. I got to play with my camera and snap some shots in the dark. It took a while to figure out the settings. Here are some shots I took.

There were two little girls there playing. The one in the light blue asked if I would take their picture. I told them to strike a pose! The little girl on the right is so adorable. 2 seconds after I said strike a pose that is what she did. A little over the shoulder glance. So natural and cute!

Play's on second......
Our friend Chance was there playing with another team. He ran out on the field and took this picture for me. That's my John at bat!
I obviously wasn't trying to focus on the fence. That is John way out there.

I snapped a fun shot of Chelsea hanging out in the entertainment center.

I'll be back with more fun news and updates later in the week!

#5 Get Braces!!!

2009-03-16T14:44:00.003-04:00

I did it. I don't have any pictures to show, as it isn't the most attractive thing to see. I am sure that there will eventually be pictures, but I'm not exactly stepping up for that photo shoot yet. It has been a very trying experience. I have braces on top and a bite plain on bottom. My upper cuspids are (were) stuck behind my lower cuspids when I bite down. The bite plain will allow my upper and lower teeth to separate for a few weeks while the upper cuspids move forward. I got them put on 1 week ago today. I can tell a TREMENDOUS difference in the position of my upper teeth. I had the tiniest of gaps between my two front teeth, and that is gone. The cuspids are moving too! It is amazing how it works.

The challenges are, that the bite plain has to be in most of the time. For the first 3 days, I only took it out to brush. I ate soup and mashed potatoes and green beans for most of my meals. It is impossible to chew with it in. I have gradually gotten to the point where I can take it out to talk on the phone at work, eat meals, and even leave it out for comfort reasons, for a little while. Wish me luck with this. My upper cuspids could crossover as soon as 2 weeks from now!!!

I have a lot more to post about later today! Happy Monday!

How egg-citing!!!

2009-03-05T16:15:00.004-05:00

As of last night the fire department and the volunteers have managed to make over 6,000 eggs. Here are a few more pictures of us at the fire hall. I was taking pictures everyday but I have been a slacker lately about getting the camera out and doing it.... We have been distracted by watching the Bachelor or American Idol.

John-chocolate dipping station...

A very sweet young lady, Kayla. She is the Chief's step daughter and has helped a lot!
Terri- Fun chick to be around. Her, Rachel and I can talk like we've been friends for years.

I love making new friends in the community.

Random excitement around the house...

2009-03-05T15:55:00.006-05:00

I got a new bird feeder. (I took this picture from inside so that I wouldn't disturb the birds. The door fogged up quickly.)

We had some visitors this past weekend... Rachel's sister and her husband, Susanna and Patrick came to visit Rachel and Jeff. I went to volunteer for the SPCA Saturday morning. Since we weren't making eggs, I joined Rachel and Susanna for some shopping and girl time. Then we went home and ate dinner with the guys and watched a chick flick- Nights in Roadanthe. It was a great movie. Sad ending, but it was still good. I love Nickolas Sparks, the author, and will have to go back and read the book now.

Rachel, Susanna and I went to the gym together Sunday. I don't usually go unless I am going to a class, but I enjoyed running on the treadmill. I watched Jurassic Park 3 while I ran 2 miles. It took me 32 minutes and 31 seconds. I don't know how bad that is, but I was glad I just went. I have been a slacker about working out too!

Here we are all piled in the living room watching the movie.

Patrick, John, Jeff, Me, Susanna, Rachel.

(Please ignore the paint swatches, we still haven't had time to paint)

Earlier in the night Wumples was getting a little overwhelmed by all the people so she joined me on the couch and ended hiding her head in my lap. She never does this as she doesn't really even like to be held. She is such a ham.

Here is a picture of a the crates piled in the back seat of my car on the way to the event. Funny I can remember their names. From Left: Timothy, Honey & Ruby, and Rufus & ... Okay I forgot one. There were about 12-15 puppies there in all. There was a VVMA conference in town and the puppies were part of their training. I got to learn a lot about training puppies and their general behavior. It was so much fun!

Family time!

2009-03-05T15:31:00.004-05:00

I have been busy with all sorts of fun stuff, including being visited in VA by my sister. She came with her little girl and her boyfriend and his son. Jaden hasn't really had the opportunity to be around me very much. It took her a few minutes to even let me get near her. After being at my house for about 20 minutes I decided to do what any little girl should want to help do... Cook.....

It worked.

Jaden & me- trying to open the green beans

Always have time to pose....
My sister, Shelly, Jaden and me
Quick-no one is looking.....

She's been caught. Jaden loves green beans!!!
What we have here is shake and bake technique for green bean casserole. Jaden was shaking the cans really hard to make sure there were no stragglers...

After dinner we decided to go to the fire house so that Jaden could see the trucks and such. She didn't enjoy what-so-ever.... we had to beg her to get on the truck. The only reason she got on was because my sister stood up there with her.

She was dwarfed by the massive size of the trucks. It was funny!

Hello!!!

2009-03-04T13:19:00.004-05:00

I have been so busy the past couple weeks that I have totally neglected my blog. I hope everyone is doing well. I will hopefully get to add a couple posts tonight, to catch everyone up. Happy Wednesday to everyone!