Life in Our Little House in the Big Woods

Construction

2011-07-04T11:04:00.009-04:00

Well, just a little bit has happened....hahaha...

Let's see what we have....

We put our friends to work when they come visit! Nathan helped Ben take some trees down last fall when they came to visit.

Jaker was surveying his house and making sure that all was in order before Ben started putting down flooring.

Here's the house this spring

And here is the flooring before it was sealed

And here is the sealed version....beautiful!

This picture is too funny not to share! Ben and Brennan put in the footers for the porch and also the concrete slab in front of the downstairs doors this spring. The day they were putting it in it was rainy so they had to come up with a way to protect the concrete while it cured. We looked a bit like the Clampetts but it worked!

Now I need to get more pics and upload them...we have a porch, more siding, and we are loving our space upstairs!

Hmmm....

2011-06-16T17:22:00.001-04:00

Well, it didn't with earlier but I'm giving it another shot. I have to say I an very disappointed with the Blogger app for Android...which is ironic since they are both Google-based.

Hopefully this cute pic of my Jaker boy will post too.

Giddy up?

2011-05-02T20:34:00.006-04:00

Hmm...hey there...

Well, with a new computer and an app for my phone I suppose I have no excuse to not blog...

So I think I'm back in the saddle...giddy up

Webster Christmas --Part II

2010-01-17T17:50:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday we got to celebrate Webster Christmas part two. Our first round was scheduled for the day after Christmas, however Matt and Jess and fam had to go to Michigan unexpectedly for a funeral and my future sis-in-law Kim was sick. :-( Also, Jenny and her fam were unable to come up around Christmas, so they weren't able to join us either. Well, we were all (except Jenny's hubby :-( ) able to get together for a day of fun, food, and presents on January 9. We had yummy appetizers all day in between times of running children (there were 6 kids under 10 in the house!), present mania, and chatting with each other. It was so fun to have all of us together! I've included this pic of Ben and his siblings with their mom -- so cute!
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We don't mess around...

2010-01-05T19:00:00.000-05:00

In our family we're pretty serious about our peaches! :-) (Many thanks to Brennan for the yummy treat!)
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Caught Blue Pawed

2010-01-02T15:43:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I painted a portion of the subfloor in our hallway and bathroom that weren't painted previously (yes, we moved in 5 months ago and yes, we still have only subfloor downstairs! *ahem*). Anyway, I had some leftover paint so I decided to paint some of the floor in the kitchen that had chipped. Well, Mr. Jake decided to jump the barricade so he could be near me. Needless to say, we now have a blue-pawed puppy and some lovely paw prints in the paint! hehe I think I'm gonna leave them there...after all, it's only subfloor and it makes me laugh!
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Stepping Forward

2009-12-31T13:07:00.001-05:00

With all the hype about the changing of the year, I've heard lots of people saying how glad they are to get through this year and even this decade. They say it's been horrible, that people are miserable, and that this just needs to be over. While I completely understand some of this, and I'm not trying to diminish anyone's pain and misery, I am choosing to focus on the good of this decade. I think our world gets super doom and gloom far too often. Again, I don't take troubles and hardships lightly...Ben and I have very unsteady job futures right now, as well as a dear friend who is facing surgery for stage 3 or 4 brain cancer, and many other stressers.

OK...now to count my blessings...

This decade Ben and I graduated from high school and college then were both blessed with great jobs. It wasn't always easy to have a long-distance relationship for years, but I'm thankful for the growth that gave us.

Ben and I began dating and were married during this decade...one of the best gifts I've been given! We've established our own household and even built an actual house! We've accomplished quite a bit in our 3 1/2 years! We added our two furbabies (Sadie and Jake) to our family as well. In case you can't tell, I rather love my pups and enjoy their company!

We have been blessed with lots of family that love us as well as many dear friends. Many of our friendships have started or been deepened during this decade. I have been blessed to shed tears of joy at the births of babies and tears of grief while mourning a loss alongside friends. I have gained a brother and two sisters by marriage as well as their spouses and my beautiful nieces and nephews!

I have grown closer to my Savior in ways I never thought possible. I am so blessed to have a God who loves me as I am, forgives my sins, and woos me closer to Him by His grace.

I can't imagine what is in store for the next decade, but I'm excited to hold on for the ride!

May you all be blessed in the upcoming year!
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You know you have two big pups...

2009-12-21T20:10:00.000-05:00

when you but 138 pounds of dog food at one time! On the good side, they were on sale and we got two $5 coupons in Sadie's food! I suppose they are worth it ;-)
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Today's Highlights

2009-12-17T21:11:00.000-05:00

Well, tonight I FINALLY got our tree decorated! We got the tree nearly two weeks ago, and Ben put lights on that night. Since then it hasn't changed! Partially that was so Jake could get used to it and partially because I didn't take the time! So tonight I finally put on our non-breakable ornaments (and put them up fairly high) to hopefully avoid a puppy catastrophe! So far he's only sniffed the tree and tried to munch on it a little bit! haha

Tonight another thing happened...my car, Holly Honda, hit 200,000 miles! I am so blessed to have such a great car, and I hope she continues to be so wonderful!

Well, I suppose that's all for now. I hope you're all enjoying the season and finding time to reflect on the miracle of the incarnation...Emmanuel, God with us!

P. S. I'm not sure how pics will link in...still playing with this formatting from emailing my posts to my blog!

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Today's Highlights

2009-12-17T21:08:00.000-05:00

Tonight another thing happened...my car, Holly Honda, hit 200,000 miles! I am so blessed to have such a great car, and I hope she continues to be so wonderful!

Well, I suppose that's all for now. I hope you're all enjoying the season and finding time to reflect on the miracle of the incarnation...Emmanuel, God with us!

P. S. I'm not sure how these pics will link in...still playing with this formatting from emailing my posts to my blog!

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Testing, testing...1, 2, 3...

2009-12-14T22:03:00.001-05:00

OK...so I'm trying a new thing where you email you posts to your blog. They may not be as pretty, but I can still include pictures and I may actually update! (Please pick yourself up off the floor, Mandy!) :-). Since we moved into our new house, we don't have internet access so we have been relying on our BlackBerries...which do not sync well with Blogger (dear blogger, please fix that!). So, we'll see how this works...and if it does I might be back with pictures soon! {Gasp!}
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Prayer

2009-04-21T11:20:00.002-04:00

Please pray for sweet baby Stellan today as he undergoes very major surgery. While I don't know him or his family directly, I have been very touched by reading their story. You can check out their story and updates here: www.mycharmingkids.net

Yes, it's me!

2009-04-08T19:16:00.014-04:00

No, your eyes are not deceiving you...it is really me again!! I thought I would finally share some more house pics...if anyone still reads this!! :-)

A current view of the house and garage

Pay no attention to the ugly burn pile...just check out the progress on the house!

This is the view from the kitchen looking into the living room

I'm pretty sure this is upstairs, but I can't be sure since I haven't been up there in months. This is due to the precarious ladder that must be ascended in order to get up there...and, oh yeah, that ladder is right above the stairs to the basement (so it's a 2 story drop if you fall!!!)...yikes!! If this is indeed the upstairs, the bathroom is on the left of this picture and the bedrooms are on the other side and where the picture is taken from.

Last weekend we worked on the house Friday and Saturday and had some great help! Above is my brother-in-law Matt who came down for the day on Friday. His height and long arms came in handy...especially when we were installing the Pex tubing in the floor joists! (A little explanation on the Pex system...hot water that's heated by our outdoor wood stove is piped through the tubing which will heat our house. It's also laid in the concrete floor in the basement.)

Ben & Mom Webster were working on the other end of the tubing with Ben's handy contraption to wind the tubing out!

Saturday I had a horrible sinus headache so I stayed home, but our moms and friends Jess and Jon came to help. Brennan was there to assist as well!

Here is a view of the mostly finished tubing. The final step is to have metal plates put over the tubing to help disperse the heat better.

Here's a view of both the tubing loosely hung and Ben's new workbench/storage area! Ben made it on his own late Saturday and is very proud of his new organization! (as well he should be!)

This is the back bedroom (which will be used as an office once the upstairs is done)

Finally, a view of our downstairs bathroom...nothing is working yet but it's getting closer!

I hope you enjoyed the "tour" of the recent updates!

Please bear with me...

2009-02-19T11:57:00.002-05:00

I'm in the process of moving things around and sprucing up the blog in general...so it may look strange for a little while! :-) I promise...new posts will be coming!!!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-17T14:54:00.037-05:00

We enjoyed a fun, family-filled, and fairly relaxing Christmas this year. We got our tree the first Sunday in December. It is a fairly small blue spruce...and it is really pretty (if I do say so myself!). We decorated it that week as well.

Ben is in charge of the lights.

Sadie was not very impressed by the tree.

Ben put on a few ornaments...this one is his favorite.

Our cute tree

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve we went to our friends house for some gingerbread house making and an early dinner. We had so much fun! The boys really got into it and everyone was so creative!

These are all the complete houses

Ben made this house...it is a small-scale model of our house!

I went with a pink theme this year!

The whole gang (minus my mom since she took the picture)

After dinner we opened presents, then we headed to the Buckley's for a get together.

Ben decided to sport a mohawk for Christmas this year

Our tree Christmas morning

Sadie decided presents were pretty cool!

Ben was freakishly excited about new socks!!

Ooohhhh.....ahhhhhh....Ben surprised me with a new bag that I had wanted for awhile....he even got it monogrammed!

The Closer!!!

My hottie sporting his new camo hat

My big gift...wonder what it is!?

The third season of The Closer! (Ben got me all 3 seasons.)

Ben opening his big gift

A new hunting jacket...he looks pretty creepy in this pic!!

Christmas day after we opened presents at our house we went to my parents' house to hang out and open presents with them.

The pups started off the present excitement

My beautiful mama opening some Bath & Body Works goodies

I told my mom all the time how I loved her purse, so she got me one of my own!!!

Dad decided to boogie down in his new sweater!!! LOL

Mom & Dad opening their big gift...a computer

Later that night we went to my Aunt Marsha's to celebrate with the fam. Then on Saturday we celebrated with the Webster family. We enjoyed a brunch then we chilled for the afternoon. Brennan had to go to a house fire, but he made it back right after dinner. Then we opened presents.

Again the pups started it off (Yes, Sadie is VERY spoiled!!)

Quinn opening the boat we got him

Brennan with the shirt we got him

Katie loved her horse from Aunt Jenny! (Missed you guys...Jen & family!)

Korynn was so adorable in her fairy wings from Uncle Brennan!

Quinn got a John Deere from Uncle Brennan

Katie opening some goodies

Korynn opening goodies too

We got Mom W. the first two seasons of Magnum, P.I. since she likes Tom Selleck!

I think she likes them!

We also got her a big maple leaf bowl.

Our friends Matt and Ashley came up on New Years Eve and stayed through the weekend. We loved having them here and are so excited for their wedding in July!!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!

Somewhere

2008-12-16T14:14:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYbk5IzRWNM

I often feel caught in the middle. How 'bout you?

Family Time

2008-12-15T20:11:00.014-05:00

In November my sister-in-law Jenny came up for the weekend with her kids Tristan, Ally, and Cubby. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law (Jess and Matt) came down that weekend as well, with their kids Katie, Korynn, and Quinn. We had lots of fun hanging out together, especially since it's so rare for so many of us to be together at one time!

Absolutely. Adorable.

Wrestle time with Uncle Ben

Tristan checking out some stone turtles

The kids love Sadie and she loves them...it works out well!

Brother / sister snuggle time...so cute!!!

Where's Cubby?!

Cubby took a little rest with Uncle Brennan...so sweet!

For Webster Thanksgiving, we decided to celebrate on Saturday so that we'd have more time together. We went up to Jess and Matt's house to feast with them and their kids as well as Mom Webster, Brennan, and Kim (Bren's girlfriend). It was lots of fun...but we missed Jen and family!

We were in the kitchen when Katie started yelling for us to come look. She had taken Korynn's zip-up sweatshirt and tied it around Sadie's neck so she could wear it! She even completed the look by putting up her hood! It was so funny!

Just hangin...

Brennan + Kim = SO CUTE!!

Korynn, I could eat up your cuteness with a spoon!

We were all pretty full by this point!!

Quinn chewing on something...look at those big blue eyes!!!

We've been blessed with such loving family!

Oh Deer

2008-12-15T19:59:00.004-05:00

Ben got a HUGE eight-point buck the first day of bow season this year! According to Ben, "It dressed out at 160 and had a 16 inch inside spread."

That's Ben's buck on the back (which tipped the 4-wheeler) and Brennan's doe on the front.

I'm Baaaccckk!!

2008-12-15T19:33:00.016-05:00

I've been a bad blogger...yes, indeed. But I'm back! I've recently had some technical issues, but hopefully all will be running smoothly from here on out! We've gotten quite a bit done with the house since my last post, so here's some updates on our ever-growing project!

This is taken from the second floor of the house while we were working on getting sheathing on.

Our brother-in-law Matt came down to help for a day. His long arms and legs were put to good use!

A view from inside the second floor (where a bedroom will be) toward the pond

A closer view of the pond...have I told you how excited I am to wakeup to these views!?

The house almost fully sheathed in

The inside of the second floor once the sheathing was on

The garage has a roof! Doesn't it look cool?!

The house...more fully sheathed

The house with a roof and the garage with some house wrap on

A closer look at the garage...looking good!

A view from the back of the house and garage at the current status

Yes, Another House Update!

2008-10-08T20:20:00.008-04:00

Original title, I know! We've been working on finishing the framing on the house and garage so we can get both of them roofed and house wrapped.

This is inside the first floor of the house

The view from the front of the house and garage

Same kind of deal...but from the back

We got the gable ends framed on the garage.

This is a view of the second floor of the house

The current state of the house...by truck light!

It's Fall Ya'll!

2008-10-08T20:08:00.009-04:00

I love fall around here...it's gorgeous! And a few weeks ago we got to do something very fallish with our friends Jess and Jon. They came over for lunch after church, then we went over to a local orchard to pick apples. We picked 2 1/2 plastic grocery bags full!

Ben was a bit disturbed by the apple that looked like a butt.

The apples are so pretty on the trees!

Jess and Jon were finding some keepers.

Ben poses with some better apples!

The view of the lower orchard and the mountains surrounding it was very beautiful.

Jon was working on the whole u-pick concept!

Me and my cutie in the orchards

Tagged!

2008-10-08T19:22:00.003-04:00

My friend Jess tagged me to do this fun set of questions...very cool!

Let's see what I can think of...

1. I really hate baby corn. I think it's super creepy. I look away whenever I see it. I steer my cart away at the grocery store. My dad used to try to put it in my bowl when we'd get Chinese food just to creep me out!! And...there's a Ziploc steam bag commercial on right now that has baby corn on it...very disturbing.

2. I have a thing about my space bubble. If I don't know you very well (or I don't feel very comfortable with you)...please stay away...far away!!! It's really ironic though, because with people I know I'm all about hugs and stuff.

3. I'd love to be a professional organizer some day...or maybe a wedding planner. My friend Mandy and I have actually joked about starting an organizing business someday.

4. I love bagels from Dunkin Donuts. I could eat them any time of day. I really like DD sesame and everything bagels with cream cheese.

5. I can't stand the feeling of licking a popsicle stick. The feeling of wood on my tongue is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

6. I don't really like feet. I think they're pretty gross. I don't like my feet to be touched unless I approve it!

7. When I was little I had a concussion along with a sprained nose from falling down the stairs due to the boy who is now my husband! I think I was like 3. My mom had just had surgery, so Ben's mom brought dinner to us. We were playing outside (he was the dog & I was the owner...he wanted to go one way & I the other) and I fell down a few stairs onto a brick landing. Ben's mom left so I could recover, not knowing how bad it was. My mom called the pediatrician and they said to bring me in. She had to call another friend to take us since she couldn't drive and my dad worked like 45 minutes away. By the time we got to the doctor's office, I had no reflexes on one side of my body and my pupils were dilated. They said to go directly to the hospital. Our friend drove us to the hospital VERY quickly where I stayed for observation. Thankfully, my body recovered on its own...quite a miracle!

OK...so now I'm supposed to tag 7 people...but I don't really want to...so just do this if you want! :-)

Meme

2008-09-17T19:06:00.004-04:00

My friend Mandy tagged me in a Meme that's for mommies. She asked me to do it from an "auntie" perspective, but I think I'm actually gonna do it from the perspective of a puppy mama! hehe Kinda a fun twist I think! And there are many similarities between dealing with puppies and dealing with kiddos!

So here we go...

Part "A" is to post a picture of me with my kid.

Part "B" is to answer the following questions. Here they are:

1 - How many children do you have? I have one furbaby...Sadie.

2 - What are their ages? She turned 2 on August, 5.

3 - What time of the day do you start your day? I usually get up around 6-6:30 on the weekdays...later on the weekends!

4 - What do you eat for breakfast? I usually get something at work...any variety of things. On the weekends I have oatmeal, cereal, toast, or an english muffin.

5 -Do they (kids) watch t.v.? She will occasionally perk up when she sees or hears something interesting on TV...usually when she's on her blankie on our bed...in clear vision of the TV.

6 - What are her favorite activities? She loves to be outside and runs like a crazy woman out there! She also loves to snuggle up with us or snooze on one of her beds!

7 - Do you get a break from them? Yes...when I go to work or other places that she's not allowed to go. Thankfully when you have a furbaby you can leave it alone!!

8 - How do you end your day? I do my devos at night (I'm more attentive then!), sometimes watch TV while snuggling in bed, and also some chat time with my man.

9 - What is your best parenting advice or tip? Ironically, I think one of the best things is the same for furbabies and real babies...stay consistent! Just like Sadie needs to have me be consistent with her to learn anything, kids are the same way.

I hope you liked my little twist on this Meme...and that it made you smile!!! hehe

More Recent Update...Including Nathan & Betula's Visit!

2008-09-12T20:01:00.013-04:00

Here's a few pictures of our more recent progress!

Ben and his mom put in the Pex tubing for the radiant floor heating. It's a half inch wide and runs throughout the floor as a place for the hot water to circulate after it's heated by the outdoor wood stove we have. The Pex shown here in the basement floor was covered with concrete for the final floor. It'll work really well to help heat the whole house (along with the Pex in the floors above it).

The finished concrete floor!! It's so darn awesome to have it in! We also have the floor in the garage, but I don't have any pictures of it yet. It's so cool!!

Ben and Nathan were working on the garage roof over the weekend to get the sheathing up on it since the trusses for the house didn't come in on time.

The roof -- almost fully sheathed!

Next we just need tar paper and shingles...then we can fully check that off the list!

Sadie loves checking out the progress...and boy is it looking good!

We've also got the well started! The guy is about 50 feet down now. Hopefully we'll hit an abundant source of water not too far down!

Nathan with Sadie and his pup Betula (sadly his awesome wife Heather couldn't come.

Ben was up at the property at night this week, and he got the sill plate on, front wall up and most of the trusses! He's pretty much Superman!!

A view from inside the basement with the trusses up

A view from the back of the house with some decking on

May We Not Forget...

2008-09-11T19:33:00.004-04:00

I've done some reflecting and remembering today about what happened on September 11, 2001. I remember so clearly being at school my senior year and the teachers getting the message that the planes had crashed into the Twin Towers. I remember going to our homeroom and watching live footage as the second tower collapsed. I truly couldn't grasp what was happening...it was totally shocking. Here's a video I found that's really good...take a minute to check it out too...

Our school went on lock down that day just as a precaution. One of my classmates was hysterical thinking that her boyfriend who had just joined the Army would be deployed. Being Americans, we knew that this meant war...it meant going on the offensive...it meant fighting for our freedom. We knew our brave soldiers would step up to the plate. Indeed they have. Whether you agree with the war or not...we all need to support the brave men and women who are on guard day and night.

I am personally blessed to come from a strong military family with both of my grandfathers serving in the military (Air Force and Army). Both of my mom's brothers have served in the military (Air Force and Navy) with one still serving. I have several cousins who are currently serving as well. Amazing...brave...deserving of respect and support...yes, they are. I thought I'd give you guys a couple quick pictures of some of my family currently in our military.

My cousin-in-law Sean pictured here on his wedding day this past June. He's training to be a medic and will probably be sent overseas at some point. He and he sweet bride Becky have moved to South Carolina, and we think and pray for them often.

My cousin John pictured here with his daughter Emilee. He's currently serving in Afghanistan.

My Uncle Tim is a Commander in the Navy currently working at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

May we all think and pray for our military personnel daily. They are truly amazing people.

"Old" Update

2008-09-09T19:41:00.018-04:00

This is actually an update from Labor Day (we've gotten even more done since then -- yahoo!), but I wanted to make sure I got it in. Also, these pics were already loaded onto the computer and the camera with the new ones is up at the property with Ben! On Labor Day our friends the Yosts came up to help as well as Brennan, my parents, and Ben's mom. It was great to have so much fun and get stuff done! We are so blessed to have such great family (yes, Yosts are considered family!)!!! I love it.

I started taking pics during our lunch break. I think I snapped this one of Greg and my mom right after Isaac tipped his chair over...wicked funny!! I think the boy was a bit tipsy! hehe

Isaac in the chair he tipped, Pappy, and my dad getting hydrated.

Mammie, Jacob, and Isaac snacking on some apples.

Mom, Mammie, and I worked on digging trenches in the stone for the PVC pipes to go in. The pipes are sewer pipes for the kitchen and bathrooms. Isaac and Jacob loved playing in the stones and "helping"!

After we got the pipes in the stone we had to bury them.

Ben and Brennan worked on the roof putting up the sheathing...aka super scary...

The roof jacks worked well...along with ropes!

They were pretty high up but not as high as the front!

The "ground crew" worked to get the materials cut and up to the guys on the roof.

If you've ever seen Sadie and Brennan together, then you know that this photo shows a lot of progress!! For some reason Sadie is super scared of Brennan. She's around him a lot, but for some reason she just hasn't gotten used to him. We assume she was abused by someone who looked or sounded like Brennan...which breaks my heart. :-( Thankfully over the past few weeks she's been warming up to him and didn't even freak out too much when he crept up behind her and scooped her up! It makes such an adorable pic too!!

My mom decided to take pictures so we actually have proof that I work on the house too!! These pictures are of us putting down the foam insulation over the vapor barrier, then putting the rebar over that. (Then Ben and his mom put Pex tubing over all the floor for the radiant floor heating during the week before the concrete was poured -- pics to follow.)

I'm not exactly sure what Brennan's doing, but I think he was going to cut the foam so it fit around the PVC pipes.

Time for the rebar!

Sometimes we have to cage our crazy helpers when they act up!! hehe

They carefully carried the rebar...with gloves on!

Ben was putting the finishing touches on the floor.

Even potty breaks (aka driving down the road to use the potty at the gas station) turn into fun times when my mom and I are involved! It may or may not have included "borrowing" a sign, taking filthy children with us, a toilet that didn't flush, a poo pyramid, grooving to some Fergalicious sounds (and teaching Isaac to say Fergalicious), falling into my car, two boys chowing down Reeses cups since they weren't allowed in the car, and several other "interesting" things!! hehe

We ended the day with a campfire on which we cooked foil meals (hamburger, potatoes, carrots, onion, and seasonings wrapped in foil) and fresh corn from our neighbors' farm...delish!! And the view from our house site/campfire was gorgeous...a clear sky full of stars...a perfect ending to the day!

Hopefully I'll get some up-to-date pics up by the end of the week.

Can't Wait...

2008-09-09T19:31:00.002-04:00

...to see these sunsets every night from my new front porch!!

Update...Prayers Needed!

2008-09-03T21:26:00.002-04:00

Hello there! Just a quick (maybe!) update on Joy and Michael. Michael goes in for his first round of chemo tomorrow. This is the route that the oncologist recommended, so they are pursuing it for now. Through one of the tests they determined that the cancer started in his esophagus then got into his lymph system which is spreading it all over. The strange thing is that he really hasn't had any signs of it and his blood work on the rest of his body is fine. Michael is very worn, tired, and isn't eating much at all (even on meds that are supposed to boost his appetite). The cancer is really hitting him hard. Please pray for Michael that he can have the strength to fight this. Please pray for Joy that she'll feel comforted through this. I please pray for them...it's breaking my heart to see Joy's pain and to know what Michael's going through.

It's Real Life -- How I Roll

2008-08-28T18:10:00.013-04:00

I'm adventuring into something new today! Mandy's been doing the "It's Real Life" blogs for awhile, so I thought I'd join her! Since this week is titled "How I Roll" it's very appropriate that I start with this one...since I love my Holly Honda! I got Holly while I was in college and am quite proud of myself for handling all the payments while I went through school. Striving to pay for something certainly gives you more of an appreciate for it! So here's a few shots of what Holly looks like today...uncleaned and unedited (per the rules of the post)!!

Here's my beautiful car.

My Virginia Tech magnet

As soon as I opened the door a certain pup just HAD to jump in! She loves to go for a ride!

I got the iPod for my birthday and got the FM transmitter as well so I can listen in the car. It certainly helps make the 1.5 hours in the car to and from work each day more bearable!

Baby wipes are a must! I like to wipe off my hands after I pump gas, plus they are a great thing to have up at the property!

Let's sort through the mess in the back seat, shall we? Don't judge...lol! This has become part of where we live out of up at the property! So...I have a few coats/sweatshirts back there, my garbage can, a few reusable grocery bags, some Cheese Its, a notebook, a camp chair, and an umbrella are a few things I know I have.

And finally...my trunk. Yes, those are wood planks in there! A few years ago I had an oil leak in the trunk so Ben pulled up the carpet and the cardboard type layer that things were resting on. He ended up throwing out the cardboard layer and replacing it with boards, and he salvaged the carpet. Well, a few months ago we had another oil situation. This time the carpet got tossed too. So back here I have a couple of cintranella candles for up at the property, my emergency kit (black box), and a crate for car supplies.

So there you have it...a look at "How I Roll." Join me in the fun of "It's Real Life"!

Heavy Hearted

2008-08-21T19:08:00.002-04:00

Hi, guys...I'm really sad today. Just thought I'd be totally honest. My co-worker Joy came back from an appointment with her husband and I immediately knew they didn't get good news. Michael (her husband) had already had a biopsy done on a lump he had on his lymph nodes that came back with inconclusive results. Earlier this week he had a PET scan done, and today he went to a doctor to find out what was going on. The doctor read the results of the PET scan then came in and told them he had really bad news for them. Michael has cancer all through his body, including in his bones. Joy said that the scan results were obvious even to her. It breaks my heart to see my dear friend so upset and to feel so helpless. They are believers, so please pray not only for a miracle for Michael but also for God to feel very close to them right now. I am hoping they feel His love around them like a warm, fuzzy blanket on a cold day. Please pray with me...I know they will appreciate it too.

It makes be get all warm and fuzzy...

2008-08-18T20:17:00.011-04:00

...all the help we've had. Amazing...yeah...that's pretty much what I think. We are SO blessed to have wonderful friends and family who have helped us SO much. We truly wouldn't be where we are today without all the help we've been blessed with. Here are a few of the wonderful helpers (in no particular order!!):

Greg was there most of the week and willing to take on a whole variety of tasks!

Brennan -- my super brother-in-law helped a lot.

Our moms were so great! They both brought us meals on two nights...yum! They were there to help out with whatever we were working on too.

Josiah and Luke came up one afternoon...which was perfect timing because they were able to help put up the ridge beam. We needed lots of heavy lifters that day!

My dad and mom, as well as our friends Jess and Jon were a huge help getting up the garage walls...even willing to help us push the 8 foot walls over our "moat" and up onto the 4 foot high walls!

Allie, Jon, and my dad helped balance a wall.

Allie, Sam, and Katelynn (or some combination there of) were up several days throughout the week, which was a wonderful help! They did a whole variety of things too! And Saturday Allie even brought up her sister Meagan who helped out too!

Sam helped Ben on the homemade scaffolding.

Katelynn helped out with a little tar painting on the foundation of the garage.

Thanks to everyone...and I hope I didn't miss anyone...so sorry if I did!!! We love and appreciate you all!!!

Farewell

2008-08-17T20:14:00.014-04:00

Last Sunday we had a birthday party / congrats on the wedding party for Brock and Heather and Steve (sadly, Steve couldn't be there). It was also a sort of going away party for them as well since they'll be relocating. We will miss seeing them at the family get togethers!!

Brock is strong and smart like the Hulk!

OK...this one was too cute not to put in!!

Brock's favorite activity was running down the ramp, then back up the stairs...sometimes while diving and leaping about!

A toast to Heather and Steve

Te present we got Brock. He was SO into all the presents! It was a hoot to watch him open them!! At one point he said, "I can't believe it! Another present!"

The shirt we got him had the Hulk and Spiderman and all their friends on it.

They will be missed!

Ben and Brock wrestling...it's a guy thing!

Beauty All Around

2008-08-17T20:01:00.006-04:00

The heavens

are telling of the

glory of God;

And their expanse

is declaring the work of His hands.

Psalm 19:1 NASB

I enjoyed some beautiful views of the sky this past week up at the new house.

Stylin

2008-08-17T19:32:00.003-04:00

I look so cute in a polo shirt...

The Week Through Sadie's Eyes

2008-08-17T19:14:00.011-04:00

Well folks...it's Sadie here...about time Mom let me write things from my point of view! Here's a summary of what I did this past week:

I rode next to Dad a lot in the truck. This time in particular I had to share the front seat with not just Mom and Dad but Chloe too. Good thing I like her!

I did a lot of running around. There was so much happening that I had to supervise!

Since I'm black, I spent a lot of time trying to find shade!

I liked to stand up on the hill and oversee my subjects.

I tried to sneak into as many pictures as possible.

Sometimes I just needed a break.

They put this ditch in my way, so I had to jump it quite a bit. Good thing I'm so fast and smart...I easily jumped over it!

I did a little digging now and then. I am quite a good landscaper.

And most of all, I just looked cute.

Mom did say I needed to start pulling my weight. Apparently she feels I'm not earning my keep. So right after she said that I figured I'd help out. She was carrying a bunch of boxes and wrappers out back to burn, so I ran up next to her to help her pull them up the hill. I really did. I know exactly what she's saying to me and I figured she was right. Then I grabbed one of the wrappers and tried to shred it up for her. I'm just helpful like that.

Time with Tristan

2008-08-17T18:57:00.012-04:00

We got to have our awesome nephew Tristan stay with us overnight when he was up visiting Grandma for a few weeks. We started with some crazy dance moves to the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie I believe...

The boy's got moves

T-man was picking on Uncle Ben, so they had to settle things with a thumb war of course!

He's got the rhythm in him...even during a game of Trouble!

I believe I won this game...just sayin...

Can you tell that crazy dancing was a theme of the weekend?

And he'll even dance with the dog!

So stinkin' cute!

Then another game...Jenga.

As you can tell, it was some good times with lots of break dancing and a few games. We loved having T up and wish he lived closer so we could do this more often!

What a Week!!

2008-08-17T18:12:00.030-04:00

We got so much done this past week! I was off of work and Ben worked for just a few hours in the morning some days. We tried to take a bunch of pics, so I will give you a run through of the week via them.

The garage actually started a weekend before when we had a garage raising. Sadly, the pictures from this event are on Ben's computer which isn't here right now. Basically that day we got the sill plate on and the two side walls and the back wall up. It doesn't sound like a ton, but considering we had a huge trench to get over that was dug up for the foundation to be poured and we were putting up 8 foot walls on top of a 4 foot foundation wall it was a lot!! Our friends Jess and Jon were there too...you can check out some pics on their blog. Then Ben worked throughout the following week to get a lot done too.

Ben got the front wall up before the week we had off, which was a big help.

He also got most of the sheathing done, then we finished it up the next weekend/week.

With Brennan's help, Ben got up the jack post and the one side of floor joists for the second floor.

This is a view of the house. We put tar on both foundations to seal them up.

Mom and Greg working on the decking for the second floor. They both love the nail gun!!!

Craig finished up the excavating throughout the week, which makes things look more like a real house and garage!

We got up the blue foam insulation around the foundation, then Craig backfilled around it to keep it up. Craig also spread crushed stone in the house for the concrete floor to be poured on.

Here's a better view of the second floor.

A view from the inside. The area in the back corner that doesn't have any decking is where the stairs will be. They will be pull down and will rest on a landing that will be in the corner. The landing will also be the way you step up to the side door to get out. With the house and garage being built into the slope, the levels for doors are a bit trickier. The garage is really tall -- 12 feet!

Another thing we did this week was to install the drainage for the garage. We put in the gardening fabric, then crushed stone, then drain tile (PVC pipe with holes drilled in it), more stone to cover the drain tile, and Craig finished it off by backfilling the area. We also needed a way for the drain tile to exit, so we installed the pipe above. It's about 4 feet underground near the garage, then getting shallower from there. It ends in the ditch that runs along the driveway, so hopefully everything will work perfectly!

Tada...my favorite purchase of the week I think! I am SO excited to have a garage and a door opener too!!!! Holly (my Honda) is looking forward to it too!!

We have the beginnings of a back yard!!

Ben giving the "troops" a pep talk before raising the ridge beam.

Brennan was tacking in the braces for the ridge beam.

Ready...

...set...

...GO!!

Ben had to reinforce the supports.

And we have a ridge beam!!

I finally conquered my fear of getting up on the second floor. It's not necessarily being up there (although I won't go near the edge up there)...it's getting down that scares me!!

And then there were the garage doors! (wow...I'm using a lot of exclamation points...can you tell I'm excited?)

Ben got pretty sleepy, so he took a power nap on poor Greg before we went to an event where I work.

These two pictures are of the "finished" product of how things were left after our week (notice, it's very dark -- but we wanted to get to a certain point before we stopped). This one is from the back of the garage looking toward the driveway.

This is a view from the front...notice the pretty doors (and one is fully functional)!

I'm so proud of the work we got done this week, and I look forward to getting even more done soon!

House Update

2008-07-25T21:46:00.003-04:00

Well, we did finally close on everything last Friday...what a HUGE relief! While the closing costs made us almost keel over, at least it's done! We are behind schedule, however our schedule was EXTREMELY aggressive. Ben's been working hard on getting the drainage systems set up around the foundation this week. He's done a wonderful job as usual! He and Bill also got a lot of sawing done today on the boards for our lumber for floors and cabinets, as well as getting a few other necessities done. The walls should be poured early next week (supposed to be this week, but delayed due to all the rain we've gotten). After the walls, we'll be stompin it out from there. We'll be on vaca the second week of August to work on stuff all week, so if anyone's interested in helping just let me know! ;-) We're getting more excited with each step!

Also, please continue to pray for the stuff with the lawyers. The new lawyer we used was AWESOME and so great to us. We are really blessed to have had him. We are planning to write a letter to the previous lawyer stating all the issues we had along the way, so we'll see what they do. Hopefully some monetary reimbursement will happen...we could use it! We were told by this lawyer that there really isn't anything cost effective for us to do legally to take up issue with them. It'd cost more in legal fees than what we'd get back.

Sorry there aren't any pictures this time. Hopefully I'll be able to post some soon of our foundation walls!!!

I Rescued Bon-Bon

2008-07-25T21:34:00.003-04:00

So, my co-worker Bonnie called me the other day while she was out on her smoke break. (There's no smoking allowed on-site, so smokers have to drive somewhere else to smoke.) She asked if I could do her a favor. She said she was sitting in her Blazer having a smoke when she felt something on her foot. It was raining, so she thought maybe it was some rain or maybe her toe-ring moving around. Much to her surprise, when she looked down she saw this staring back at her...

How crazy! So she got out of her vehicle and stood in the rain that was now pouring down (thankfully she had my umbrella!) and waited for me to come over and pick her up! She had to call her hubby when she got back to take her home at night! Thankfully he works 3rd shift, so they could use one car for awhile until this is solved. She thinks her little critter friend has been in there for a while, since her vehicle was parked for almost two weeks while they were on vacation. When she came back and started driving it again, she noticed that the A/C fan sounded loud. We think the little booger built a nest in the vent and has been chillin in there for a bit now! This weekend she's planning to clean it out really well and has set traps. Hopefully he'll be bidding adieu soon.

Things That Have Made Me LOL Recently...

2008-07-25T21:16:00.003-04:00

A few random things that made me laugh recently....

Today I was leaving Wegmans when this chicky was struttin' her way in. She had on a beater-style tank top that was tight and flimsy, some cotton shorts (so short you could probably see her butt-cheeks if she were to bend over), and to top it off she had on a big ol' pair of skanky heels. I literally laughed. First of all, who wears that during the day. Second of all, who wears that to Wegmans? She really looked like a floosy as my mom would say! Very entertaining...wish I had taken a picture.

The other day I saw a dead blue jay in the road. You may not think this is funny, but the way he had landed really was funny. It looked like he did a header into the pavement, cause all I could see as I drove past was a tuft of feathers sticking up from his bum. I've never seen a bird dead like that in the road before! Again, wish I had a camera.

Now this one's kinda sad-funny. I was driving past a gas station yesterday and saw that they had gas for $3.99 a gallon. I was thinking, "Wow, that's a really good price! Haven't seen it below $4 recently." Then I began to think about it...I was celebrating gas below $4! I never thought this would happen! So sad! I know I sound old, but when I think about it being just over $1/gallon when I started driving (which was NOT that long ago!), I can't believe it's so high now!

To finish this off, I'm gonna tell you two Tristan stories. My awesome nephew Tristan is visiting my mother-in-law (his grandma) for a few weeks, so we got to see him last Sunday for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. T-man cracked us up through most of dinner with his one-liners (most learned from Sponge Bob I think!) When we were leaving we saw some friends sitting near the exit, so we stopped to say hi. T started telling them, "Uncle Ben has a favorite pillow. He's even named it. Her name is Miss Puff-puff." He cracks me up.
Also at dinner, he was telling us the dramatic story of his relationship with his on-again off-again girlfriend, Kiara. (Mind you, he's only 8!) He told us that they had "dated" or whatever a few times and broken up. Then the last time they were "going out" was the end of the school year. Kiara stopped him on the track at recess and told him, "Tristan, this just isn't working out for me any more. We need to break up." Can you believe it?! And even better, T decided that sometime they should start dating and he'll do the same thing to her before she has a chance to do it to him! He's a hoot! Gotta love the soap operas on the playground! T is gonna be staying with us overnight this weekend, so I'm sure I'll have lots more great stories to tell!

Award

2008-07-25T21:01:00.004-04:00

Can you believe it? I got an award, ya'll!! And it's a purdy award. My rockin friend Mandy gave me this lovely number. I heart her. And I'm gonna break with tradition (giving to six people) and just pass it along to one person...cause really, that's enough for me to handle...let's be realistic! hehe Actually, I just kinda think it makes more sense to my little mind...one award goes on to one person and so on and so on...logical, right?!

So my award will go to.........

Drumroll please.........

Keep it up..........

Still drumrolling.........

OK....it goes to JESS!! Cause really, she's who got me into this lovely addiction called blogging. (I do more reading than writing, but it's still an addiction.) I love seeing pics of Jess and her lovely man Jon and keeping up with their life a little more via the blog. Right now Jess is running a pole, so stop over and vote...cause it's fun.

Marriage: Learning to Enjoy the Differences

2008-07-12T13:31:00.002-04:00

My fabulous friend Mandy is doing a series on celebrating the differences that we have in our marriages. She's asked us to all join in, so I am sharing a story or two myself! Check out her site and join in too!

Well, one of the big differences that comes to mind is what we like to do for fun. Ben's definitely an outdoorsy guy...and me...not so much. I like to do a lot of things that are inside. He loves to ride his bikes, hunt, fish, ski, chop down trees, fix chainsaws, work on cars, and do lots of other projects. My favorite hobby is shopping! I love to scrapbook, organize, blog, play games, and do girly things! :-) I don't love to do house cleaning, but I enjoy a clean house so I do it!

It is amazing how we are bridging the gaps and learning to enjoy each others favorites. I've become a bit more outdoorsy by learning to enjoy fishing, kayaking, and working on stuff for the house. He's learned to appreciate what I do inside with the house, and he even obliges my by playing games with me!

On a funny note, Mandy mentioned the differences she and Justin have with towels...well I have a towel story too! Ben always reuses the towels he uses after a shower, and he used to pick on me for dirtying so many towels when he used to do the laundry. We also ended up buying quite a few more towels when we first got married because of this. So recently I compromised and agreed to use the towel I use to dry my hair for a second day. It does make a difference with the laundry, and now Ben can't pick on me as much! :-)

Biker Man

2008-07-06T17:20:00.004-04:00

Ben got a new helmet and when I asked him to pose for a picture, this is what I got! He cracks me up! I did manage to get a "normal" picture of him stylin' his new helmet too! :-)

Birthday Fun!

2008-07-06T16:45:00.014-04:00

Last week was my birthday, and I've gotta say it was a great day! I took the day off of work, which was great! I plan to do that from now on! I got to sleep in, then have my breakfast of a Cinnabon! So yummy!! I went out for lunch with Ben and Allie at Panera Bread. She surprised me with a gift certificate for a manicure...can't wait to use it!!! It was yummy too! Then it turned out that Allie didn't have to work, so I invited her to dinner with us too! We met up with my parents, Ben's mom, and Allie for dinner that night at Fuji San -- one of my favorite restaurants! It's a Japanese restaurant that does hibachi style dinners as well as traditional. We had to wait a while (and endure a grumpy waitress!), but it was worth it for the delicious food! I love how fresh and perfectly seasoned everything is. I'm really mad at myself for forgetting the camera at both lunch and dinner!! I was so looking forward to getting some great pictures. Thankfully my mom had her camera at dinner, but I don't have the pictures now. Below are a few pictures that we got of birthday fun.

My pile of presents from Ben

I've been addicted to doing word searches and other word puzzles, so he got me some great new books!

My big present was a pink iPod!!! It was just what I wanted and I'm having lots of fun loading it up and getting it going!

My mother-in-law sent me a beautiful flower arrangement

Sadie loved sniffing all the flowers!

I love experimenting with the camera by taking pictures of flowers!

I even got spoiled when I went back to work the next day with a lovely flower arrangement on my desk! I love the vibrant colors!

My parents got me a few more Willow Tree Angel animals for the Nativity set they got me for Christmas, so now my stable will be pretty full!! I can't wait to get it all out at Christmas in our new house!! They also got me a really cute shirt...and it was all tucked in this really cool bag that played "Celebrate"! It was so funny cause every time I opened it, the bag sang at me! So funny!!

I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life to help me celebrate my special day!

Up, Up, and Away!

2008-07-02T14:28:00.017-04:00

We have made some awesome progress since my last post! Well, realistically this has been done by Craig (our excavator), the concrete people, and Ben. Craig finished the excavating, then he put in the septic system. Then last week the concrete guys came and poured the footers for the house and garage.
We still have not officially closed on the new mortgage due to some time consuming issues that arose out of the title insurance search. We were pretty disappointed that anything came up since we had just had all this done last August when we closed on just the land, but we used a VERY horrible lawyer who obviously didn't do the job thoroughly. (Yet another issue that came up with them...add it to the list...) We are really frustrated with how poorly things were done by the first lawyer (as I'm sure you can tell!!). Please pray with us that we can close this week, because if we don't it'll cause a major schedule slip (even more than we already have). Also, please pray that we can handle things in the right manner with the previous lawyer. With all of the issues coming to surface, we may need to take some legal action against them. We really want to go about this in a right way, but we also need to make sure we get what we paid for...what a fine balance sometimes!! Anyway, here are some pictures of the progress! (Ben took most of these pictures, so sometimes I'm not sure if they are of the house or the garage, so I posted my best guess!)

Craig was finishing up some excavating.

This is the area for the house / garage.

There was a big pine tree that needed to come down, so Craig made quick work of it!

The foundation...not sure which one!

You can see the foundation to the left in the picture. You can also see Ben's truck in the background...he loves having the driveway in so he can get up into the woods with the truck now!

The footers are being poured!!

House footers I think...

Pretty sure this is the house...and the garage is in the background.

The ground was a bit soggy due to all the rain, but thankfully the whole thing didn't fill with water! We were getting kind of worried with the storms that had been popping up.

Getting all of the forms filled...

This a shot of the dried footers on the house. You can see how it's build into the bank. The walk-out basement will come out at this level. Picture french doors in the middle here. Then the first floor (basically at the height of the rebar) will have a front door with a porch around the front wrapping to the left side as you're looking at it. When you come through the front door you'll be in the living room with the bedroom in the back right corner, the kitchen to your left (open into the living room), and there will be a full bath in the back left corner. There will also be a second floor with two more bedrooms and a 3/4 bathroom.

Hopefully after closing this week, the concrete guys will be back next week to put up the walls, then it's up, up, and away from there! We're so excited!!

The Little Loves

2008-06-21T16:12:00.006-04:00

On the way out of Virginia we stopped VERY briefly to see Jenny and the fam. It was so good to see the kiddos...but way too short! We miss them lots!!!!

Tristan giving Cubby bunny ears while Ben's hanging with them.

Beautiful Ally

Cubby says "cheese"

T-man being goofy!

Tour of Virginia...Overview

2008-06-21T15:55:00.003-04:00

We started off our trip by stopping at Nathan and Heather's for the night. Saturday we hung out there then met up with Matt in Christiansburg (about 3 hours away). We got to meet his lovely lady Ashley for the first time too...which was awesome! That night we drove to Lynchburg (about 2 hours from Christiansburg) to check into our hotel.
The wedding was Sunday evening, so we had time to meet up with our friend Chad who lives in Lynchburg. It was great to catch up with him for a bit! Then we went back to our hotel to get ready and met up with Mom Webster and Jenny. It was so awesome to see Jenny since it's been quite a while since we last saw her. We finished getting ready, then headed to the wedding.
It was a beautiful wedding at a manor near Lynchburg. Becky was an amazingly gorgeous bride. (And Sean's awfully handsome too!!!) Ben got a surprise honor when we arrived of being asked to escort Grandma to her seat. Sean wanted him to do it, so he willingly obliged. It was quite nice.
We were kinda scared when it started sprinkling just before Becky and her dad were supposed to walk down the aisle, but thankfully the rain held off. It was a beautiful service followed by a lovely reception with great food! We had a nice time catching up with family. You can check out the posts of what we did get pictures of!

Oh...how could I forget to tell you about my lovely trip to Dairy Queen!? It was a highlight of the trip, as it is necessary for me to stop at Dairy Queen at least once while I'm near one! Gosh, we need one up here! The picture is blurry, but you can see my excitement!!!

Tour of Virginia...The Wedding

2008-06-21T13:53:00.007-04:00

Tour of Virginia...Stop 1

2008-06-21T13:11:00.013-04:00

We went to Virginia for a wedding last weekend and had lots of fun! Our first stop was at our friends Nathan & Heather's house. It was so good to see them, their "new" (as of last fall) house, and their puppy Batula. We enjoyed our stay very much! Here are a few pics of our stay:

This is pretty Batula. She's around 5 months old and is so great! She's a black lab, shepherd mix.

Heather's pretty flowers

The view from their front yard...overlooking the vineyard.

Their beautiful house

Cycling man Ben

Cycling man Brennan (so nice that he came with us!!)

Off they go...

Driveway Continued

2008-06-21T12:55:00.011-04:00

Original title...I know! But I couldn't think of anything super witty! Here's a couple pics of the current driveway status...pretty much complete!!! Yahoo!!!

This is driving up to the property. Our house will be up in the trees. The far tree line is basically our land border. If you look closely you can see little mounds of dirt near the trees. These are from the driveway being dug. Our driveway runs a few hundred feet from the tree line through the flats and up into the woods on the hill. It's a quarter mile long!

Looking at the driveway from the road. Check out the equipment...yahoo for progress!!

Along the flats going up to the house. The pond is to the right.

Looking back toward the road

A little further up...looking back toward the road

...and a bit further!

The house site

Check out all that stone!!!! And the ditch next to the driveway (right of the picture) will help with the drainage issues.

The end of the driveway (which the truck can now drive up!!) looking at the house/garage site.

The Rains Came Down...

2008-06-21T12:39:00.005-04:00

Thankfully the floods didn't come up though! Ben took some cool pictures of a storm recently. They came out really cool!! Hope you enjoy.

Note the rain pouring down the sidewalk...it goes right into our basement!

Hangin with the Boys

2008-06-09T20:51:00.013-04:00

We had the awesome privilege of watching our friends kids on Saturday for a few hours. They are a beautiful couple who make some beautiful babies!

We started out by going to "Old McDonald's" (aka McDonalds) for some lunch and play time.

Dennis in the tube...climbing like a monkey!

Ian conquered his fear of the wobbly bridge. Well, maybe not completely, but he did crawl across it! And we celebrated that victory! What a brave little man he is!

After lunch and some play time, we went to the park for a safety / bike event. They gave away free helmets! Each of the boys got to get one. I think their favorite parts were things that are typically at the park though...not the special event! That's totally fine...cause they had lots of fun on the carousel and the playground!

I love to watch the boys together. They play SO well together and genuinely enjoy each other. It's so sweet.

Ian on the "hot slide." At least he thought it was going to be hot...but it wasn't really.

Fireman Dennis to the rescue!

Evan and Ben on the way back from one of the many potty breaks I believe!

Dennis and Evan loved riding the carousel! Ian wasn't so sure at first, so he rode with Ben. He decided he liked riding with Ben, so he rode for a second time too!

This is a bit blurry...but not too bad considering we were both riding the carousel at the time! And what a cute face...couldn't resist posting this one!

One word...adorable!

After the park, we went to Friendly's for free ice cream day! We each got a cone or a bowl for free! It tasted so good on such a hot day! And somehow free tastes even better!!!

Not a very lovely picture of me...but I had to get an ice cream shot in!

After the movie we went to the "cheap theater," as I call it, to see Horton Hears a Who. It was really cute! The boys enjoyed it and so did we! We only had one potty break and one person fall asleep, so I call that a successful movie viewing!

When the boys got back to Grandma & Grandpa's they had a surprise waiting! They had made this water sprayer while we were gone. It is so awesome!

We had a wonderful day with the boys! It was so much fun, especially since they are so well behaved and polite. It truly is a joy to do stuff with them! They even say "thank you" after I comment on their wonderful manners...how adorable! We look forward to another fun day! And maybe even a sleepover sometime!?

Two Years, Two Dinners

2008-06-09T20:25:00.004-04:00

Last week was our two year anniversary!! I can't believe it's been two years, but at the same time it seems like yesterday! I am so blessed to have an amazing husband who loves me so deeply and loves God even more. Marriage is one of the most challenging, amazing, fabulous, and overwhelming things I've ever experienced. I thank God SO much that I found my soul mate at such a young age. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life loving him and getting to know him even more.

Well, we decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner. It's the place we went the night we got engaged, and we also had our rehearsal dinner there. I had even printed off a coupon! We showed up and much to our shock the parking lot was practically empty! Ben went up to the door, and there was a sign that listed their new, summer hours -- closed Mondays AND Tuesdays!! AAHHHH!!! By this time we were very hungry, so we decided to stop somewhere to get something to eat. Well...we were a bit overdressed...but we went to...

We sat there laughing 'cause it was pretty funny to end up there! But it tasted yummy, and we even got ice cream!! So, the next day we went to dinner as planned! We went straight from work, so I didn't have my camera. I did take a picture with my phone, but it's kinda grainy and dark. We had a delicious meal and a wonderful time together!

When I think about our anniversary, I often think of our awesome friends Jess & Jon who share our anniversary! It's pretty cool...cause that's how Jess and I met! We worked together for a bit (along with hundreds of other people on our floor alone), then someone mentioned to me that she was getting married on the same day I was! I mentioned that to her, and we hit it off from there! We ended up hanging out outside of work with our guys who also became friends. Now we count them as very dear friends and are so blessed to have them in our lives. Who would've thought that our anniversary would bring us together and would also bring friends!

Road Trippin'

2008-06-07T21:48:00.010-04:00

This began with a girl and her need for a dress. Not just any dress...a prom dress...not just a prom dress...a GOLD prom dress. The girl needed help getting to a David's Bridal to find said dress. The girl's friend decided they should road trip on up to find the much needed dress. So the hunt began...

We arrived and found a beautiful yellow dress...thought it was the one...

...until we saw this lovely number... And we decided IT was THE ONE! Although it's not gold, it's a deep blue (deeper than the picture shows) which is the second choice color! It's gorgeous...fits perfectly...and will be awesome for a rockin' night at prom! Yahoo for Allie!

The way home...after lunch at Applebee's...

Hmm...awkward...licking me...umm...yeah...about that...

We Have Broken Ground!!!

2008-05-31T16:46:00.008-04:00

Well, this week it finally happened! We broke ground!! (or rather Craig, our excavator did!) We are SO excited! Craig has made so much progress in just a few days! To really compare, you'll have to look at the pictures I posted earlier this week. This post kind of follows the same order as the last one, so you can see the significant change.

We have the beginnings of a driveway!!

This is looking from near the hill out toward the road. As you can see, we do have some neighbors! This is probably about 2/3 of a view of the driveway...and you can see how long it is by looking at the little white spec at the end by the bulldozer which is Ben! He looks so small at that distance!

This is looking from the same spot toward the house instead of toward the road.

This is still the driveway. It's amazing...used to be tons of tree stumps and the side of a hill. Now it's a fairly flat driveway! So cool!

This is near where the house will be looking down toward the road.

Same type of view a little further up the driveway.

This is my house and garage! So amazing! This whole area used to covered in stumps and fairly uneven. We're very impressed with how far it's come already. Can't wait to live there!

Smack Down

2008-05-31T15:17:00.008-04:00

Allie was over last week and she and Sadie had a smackdown! It was one of the most hysterical things I've seen in a while! Too funny! I wish I had a video camera...the pictures don't do it a total justice!

It all started in the kitchen...

...then Allie decided to steal Sadie's bed...

...then they were running all over the living room...

...and a bit of a smack down...

...taking sides...

Good times!!!

Bargains Galore!

2008-05-31T14:47:00.007-04:00

A couple of weekends ago my friend Jess and I went away for a girls' weekend. (much needed, by the way!) We had a lot of fun hanging out, enjoying good food, and hunting down some awesome bargains! We started off by taking a half day on Friday and grabbing some lunch at a cute cafe near Jess and Jon's house.

We had a lovely lunch and hit the road to go to the Carousel Mall in Syracuse. We did some shopping there (starting with the beloved Steve & Barry's!!) then headed to meet Emilie, Jess' sister. We unpacked at her house and went to the ABC store for some wine, then to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory...delicious! We even got pieces of cheesecake to go. After a stop at Walmart, we headed to Emilie's for some wine and cheesecake...totally girly! Finally, we hit the sack.

In the morning we got ready and met up with Emilie's friend Jill on the way to the farmer's market. We then went over to the Waterloo outlet malls...aka shopping heaven...amazing! Sadly, I didn't take too many pictures over the weekend...to busy I guess, but here's one that I did take at the mall. It's not a good pic of me, but it's got the word SALE over our heads, so it can't be all bad! :-)

We found some great sales and especially enjoyed the stores that had clearance on top of sales. I tell ya...it doesn't get much better than that!

After the outlet malls we headed back home to meet up with our hubbies at a baseball game. The weather was not cooperating, so we didn't stay too long but it was still fun!

I enjoyed the cheesecake the next day too! It was a big, rich piece so I nibbled on it a couple of times! The only downer is that now I crave it!

We had a fun weekend, and I'm very happy to have a lovely friend to have spent it with! We're already planning the next adventure!

Why?

2008-05-31T12:50:00.005-04:00

First, please listen to the first song on my new, fancy music player on the side. It should come up automatically...but take a moment and listen to it all the way through...I'll wait...oh...and here are the lyrics for those of you who may not be able to understand it (Mom!).

"Collide"

We have fallen
We have fallen again tonight
Where do we go from here
When they're tearing down our lives?
When all they want is
When all they want is
For us to live in fear
How long can we hold on?
Can we hold on?
Hold on

There's something deep inside
That keeps my faith alive
When all you can do
Is hide from the fear
That's deep inside of you
Something, something, something
Something, something, something
To hold me close when I don't know
There's something deep inside
That keeps my faith alive

We are healing
But it's killing us inside
Can we take a chance?
When faith and fear collide
We can make it
Step out and take it
We can't live feeling so numb
How long can we hold on?
Can we hold on?
Hold on

There's something deep inside
That keeps my faith alive
When all you can do
Is hide from the fear
That's deep inside of you
Something, something, something
Something, something, something
To hold me close when I don't know
There's something deep inside
That keeps my faith alive [2x]

Let me summarize for you -- it. moves. me. Plain and simply...it moves me...sometimes to tears when I hear this song. Not only is it the beautiful musical arrangement (which doesn't hurt!) but it's the meat of the lyrics. When you have God in your life there is something...deep inside...that makes you able to go on when things just don't make sense. How? What is it? I've been pondering on it and honestly I don't know how to state it. It's just there. It's like love...you know it when you feel it, but how can you possibly explain how it makes you feel?

I have said time and time again that I just don't know how people can make it without God...no hope...there's no "something." It just can't possibly exist without Him. And I'm incredibly grateful that I have "it"...or rather, Him. It helps me rest in His power and all-knowingness even when I just don't get it.

Some things recently have happened that make my mind reel with questions. A while ago I dove into the blog of Todd and Angie Smith. (Todd is in the group Selah.) The blog is written by Angie and she chronicles their journey of amazing faith while going through an incredibly hard time of thier lives. While pregnant with their fourth daughter, they found out that sweet Audrey Caroline would probably enter Heaven before she breathed her first breath here on earth. After months of praying, seeking God, and taking it all in, Audrey was born (in April of this year) and lived for a few hours. I highly recommend reading this blog for a faith boost. They are amazing people...so real and full of God. It makes me ask God questions...why's abound.

Then, last week Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter was tragically killed when one of her brothers was backing out of the driveway and accidently hit her. Grief...not only in losing a child but in helping another one go through one of the darkest time imaginable. I can't even go there..again...questions overwhelm answers.

Earlier this week...as if the family hadn't suffered enough...Todd and Angie (from above) got the news that Todd's sister Nicol's baby had stopped breathing in his sleep and couldn't be revieved. Now sweet baby Luke is in Heaven with his cousin Audrey. But why? Isn't one huge loss for a family enough? Again come the why's...

I worked with a guy who had leukemia when he was in college and beat it. Then, he was diagnosed with it again. This time he was newly married and had a baby on the way. Jon lived to see his baby born, and things started looking very good for him. Then he took a bad turn. While he did live a while longer, he left behind an amazingly strong but broken wife and a beautiful little one who will not remember her daddy. How could God allow this? Again, I ask Him why.

There have been many why's that have come from things in my life -- why are my brothers and sisters in Heaven...having never been able to live on earth and teach me many things -- why was Ben's dad taken to Heaven -- why does He allow people I love to make bad choices -- why does He allow people to be abused by others -- why...why...why... I just don't get it.

But I have that "something." It's so deep in my soul that it is who I am. It overcomes everything else. God is OK when I ask why. He never changes and never fails. He loves me through my confusion and my questioning. He knows it all. I love this. I can work through my issues with Him. As you can tell, it's theraputic to me to get things out in the open...through writing or speaking...and there are so many times when I just talk to God about everything. He actually likes it when I do this...and He's always there!!

So that's my little ditty on why...it all comes back to that "something."

A Tour of the Current Property Status

2008-05-27T19:27:00.014-04:00

Ben took some really good pictures of the property this weekend. He took them in order as if you were walking up to the house from the road...a nice perspective. I thought I'd share a bit of our beautiful green piece of heaven!

This is from the road looking toward the house. The driveway starts at the stake in the bottom of the picture and goes through the field and up the hill far ahead. (The driveway will be about a 1/4 mile long!!)

This is in the woods going along the path cut out for the driveway.

This is more along the driveway. You can see the clearing for the house and garage to the left of the driveway.

This is in the area that will be the house looking toward the pond. You can kind of see the blue of the pond through the trees and brush. What a view we will have from the front porch! (We will be thinning out the trees and brush to have a better view!) I am so excited to sit on my front porch in a glider taking in the scenery!

This is the clearing for the house and the garage (garage on the left, house on the right).

A view from the house looking up toward the sky...delicious!

This is coming from the house site toward the pond.

This is the view looking down onto the flats from the pond.

Another view of the pond...ahhh....

This is looking back over toward the house from the pond.

This is down closer to the driveway / flats looking at the creek.

This is the gate that you could see from the top of the hill by the pond...such lovely photography, Ben!

I hope you enjoyed the little tour of our soon-to-be house! As you can tell, we're pretty excited to be living there "soon."

Birthday Boy!

2008-05-27T19:00:00.013-04:00

Ben's birthday was last week, but he requested to keep celebrations simple. He said he didn't want any presents either...ha! We had our moms over for a dinner of steak, mashed potatoes, and veggies with apple crisp for dessert. It was fun! Here's a couple of pictures from our extravaganza!

I got Ben the first two movies in the Bourne series. We now have the complete trilogy. Anyone up for an afternoon of Bourne??!! :-)

Chloe wanted to see what was going on!

My mom got Ben a chalk line and gift card for Lowe's...very exciting!

This is one of the shirts I got Ben...a bargain at the outlet malls (post on the outlet malls later!)

Ben was stylin with the bow on his head!

We had seen the "cereal killer" shirt and Ben liked it, so I got it for him for his birthday...quite funny to me too!

Another good look for him...polo shirt as a hat and holding new boxers!

Sadie gave Ben a birthday snuggle!

Showing off a cute Popeye talking bank from his mom. (He collects Popeye stuff!)

Our Baby

2008-05-13T21:14:00.001-04:00

She is a baby! You can even carry her like one! :-)

Destructo Dog

2008-05-13T20:41:00.007-04:00

OK...so I have been a bad blogger and have failed to update my post regularly. Since I'm not sure if anyone really reads this often, I'm not sure if I have anyone to apologize to! :-)

Well, I do have another pup story (shocker, right!). Two weekends ago Ben was out of town for work and I went to a youth leaders' retreat, so my awesome brother-in-law Brennan stayed with Sadie. He had to go to work early Saturday morning, so it was basically like a work day routine for Sadie. Well, I got home in the early evening then went out again to church (my friends' church which has Saturday evening church...pretty cool!)...anyway...I let my beloved pup stay out of her kennel while I was gone.

In order to fully understand this story, we'll go back about a month or so for another story... On a Sunday evening we were going to be gone for a few hours, so I decided to let Sadie stay out of her kennel and roam in the living room / dining room with the doors to our room and the office closed and a gate up at the entrance to the kitchen. She did wonderfully...chewed her bone, ran around, and stayed on the correct side of the gate. So a few weeks later I decided to let her do the same thing while we went out to dinner. We came home and she was on the correct side of the gate, however the kitchen had debris all over it. The debris was a shredded bag of doggie food, which my beloved pup decided to help herself to. She was smart enough to look out the window to see when we were coming (and knocked off stuff on the windowsill) and jump back over like nothing happened...too funny!!

So this time I thought I'd outsmart her by putting a high-backed living room chair in the doorway along with the gate. She's usually wonderful and doesn't get on the furniture, so I thought we'd be safe. Well, I blame her insanity on some separation anxiety. This anxiety led her to climb the chair, leap over the back of it, skim the counter top on the other side (knocking off a paper on the counter), and end up in the forbidden kitchen. While in the kitchen, she decided to knock various things off the pantry shelf in what I believe was an attempt to get her treats that are on the top of the pantry shelf unit. She ripped apart a lot of the things that she knocked down, not to eat them but apparently just cause a mess! One of the most prominent things was a box of stuffing which was ripped open and the contents were spread throughout my kitchen! (FYI, my vacuum does get up stuffing mix!) On her rampage, she also decided to go through the open bathroom door and into our bedroom. There she knocked something over, but did not destroy anything thankfully. She also knocked off a curtain in the kitchen (again while looking out the window).

Needless to say, my beloved baby shall no longer roam alone while we're all gone! It's so strange, cause she's SO good when we're home! Even in the mornings, Ben is up early and she runs around by herself before I get up and doesn't get into anything! So kennel, sweet kennel shall remain her dwelling place in our absence! It's not a bad little palace for her to chill in anyway!

Yes, I have carpet in my kitchen...not so easy to clean! And, yes, the bowl is in the middle of my kitchen...not over in the pantry where it's supposed to be!

This is the stuffing mix...everywhere!

The green bag is a soup mix. Thankfully that was not shredded too badly!

My candy container...with chocolate...thankfully she didn't chow it down!

This shall be her home while we're gone...no more to roam!

GOD ROCKS!!!

2008-04-28T12:17:00.002-04:00

OK, so I've just gotta brag on God for a minute (He deserves more, I know). We had two "God things" happen this past week that kinda gave me a kick in the butt to remember that...yes...God really does care ALL THE TIME!!

First thing -- Our washer crapped out last week. We got it as a set with a dryer when we got married almost two years ago and it was $50 for the set (if that tells you anything about it!). I'd say we got our $25 worth out of it! Ben's made a few repairs on it, but this time it really took a dirt nap! We've been very blessed that it lasted us this long. We started looking in the classifieds of our local paper, on Craig's list, and at a local discount store. We found a washer for sale by a guy who had an extra one. It's just a few years old, in good condition, and it has a warranty still on the motor. We paid the $150 and went on our way happily with the new washer. We recieved a bill in the mail on Saturday that just "happened" to have a $150 discount applied to it! Coincidence...I think not! God supplied the exact amount that we spent on the washer. Man, He's cool!

Second thing -- We'd been dealing with an issue this week, and when our pastor started preaching on Sunday the message was about the exact thing! I almost started laughing right there in church! Of all the timing for this issue to come up and for our pastor to preach on it!! It was one of those times when God was confirming our decisions and our way of handling things. We believe we're right on and it was nice to have God give us a little "way to go!" It was a good reminder to keep on what we know is right and to be encouraged to expand our thinking as well.

So, I've just gotta give a shout out to God...He rocks my socks off!

Progress...

2008-04-26T09:10:00.006-04:00

Well, we (meaning 99% Ben!) are making progress on the land! We officially break ground in about a week and a half, so Ben as been very busy doing the prep work. You can see some of the progress below...

This is Allie & I up on the hill

These are some of the love birds on our pond. There are two pairs -- a pair of ducks and a pair of geese. They are in lub...and will NOT be hunted!!

This is me...in my house...can you picture it?!

I think this is looking toward the garage...

The front yard

Flat Tire

2008-04-18T21:04:00.000-04:00

As long as I have had my license I had never had a flat tire...until last Saturday night that is!! We were coming back from the aforementioned bonfire (after Ben loaded up the tractor...about a half hour's worth of work) and it was about 11pm when I felt and heard a strange thing. I was about a mile from home when I turned a corner and heard a slight banging noise. I thought it was just the cooler in the trunk, however it got louder and more frequent. I thought it was strange and knew something was wrong. I pulled over, thinking it may be a flat tire. Sadie seemed quite confused with this ruckus too! She had been sleeping and did not like the disturbance! Ben was in front of me with the truck (towing the tractor), so I figured he would notice that I wasn't behind him and turn back. Well...I was wrong! I hopped out, checked the tire (which was indeed flat...and smokin' hot!), and got back into the car to wait for my knight to ride down in his trusty truck. Well, I waited, continued to wait, and waited some more...at that point I gave up and called Ben. (Thank God for cell phones!) He then rode down on his other trusty mode of transportation...his bike! I ended up driving home, Ben got the tire fixed on Monday, and Holly (my car) was up and running smoothly again. I did get to drive to work Monday pimpin' my donut tire though...pretty sweet...I know you're all jealous... (Sadly I did not get a picture of the pimpiness -- nice new word I made up by the way -- but here is a picture of the flat for your viewing pleasure!)

P.S. I got a drill bit in my tire...which is what caused it to go flat...in case you're wondering. Pretty good, eh?! I figure go big or go home, right?!

Mud Season

2008-04-18T20:52:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we had a bonfire at the property. We had (and still have!) a bunch of brush from the trees we've cut down, so we figured it was a good excuse to have a party! We had a bunch of family and friends (about 13 of us...plus Sadie!) up. We roasted hot dogs, snacked on yummy food, toasted marshmallows for smores, and cooked up some fruit pies in the pie makers. It was lots of fun!

We did have a bit of a battle with the mud while we were there though!! Poor Isaac was stuck in the mud and Ben had to pull him out!! I also got stuck and lost a shoe here and there. Sadie had mud flying up behind her as she ran all over the place. It made it even more memorable!

This is our pile of muddy laundry! We just dumped it at the door when we came in and hopped right into the shower! Even Sadie got a bath.

My poor crocs...cryin' shame I forgot my boots...my how I could have used them! Good thing crocs are easily washable!

Taco Pup

2008-04-09T20:19:00.001-04:00

Sadie loves to snuggle on her blankie on our bed. She especially likes to be wrapped up like a taco. That's what I call it at least! She'll find her comfy spot on her blankie, plop down, then Ben or I wrap her blankie around her like a taco! It's like swaddling a baby! She then falls to sleep pretty quickly and is so happy! (see below!)

The Bargain Hunting Continues...

2008-04-09T20:03:00.001-04:00

This time I used my powers for the good of others!! hehe :-) Saying it like that sounded so dramatic...I love it!! I should call myself "Super Bargain Girl"!!! Then again, maybe not...I'm certainly not the best bargain hunter out there.

So, Friday after work I hit Target for some necessities. As is my normal routine, I checked the end caps in my favorite sections for some clearance items (since that's where they keep most of them...hint, hint). I looked through the items in the bedding department and stumbled upon this lone set of sheets...

It's a set of sheets for a California king bed (full set including fitted sheet, flat sheet, and pillow cases) which is what my parents have. The original price was about $37, which on its own isn't too bad for a set of these sheets. They were marked down to about $26, which was quite a deal! I called my mom and she agreed, so I plopped them into my cart. At the checkout, the sheets were the last thing that she rang out. I keep my eye on price listing at checkout to make sure I'm getting all of my great bargains, so when I saw the price for these ring up at just over $9 I almost did my happy jig right there in the store!! Overwhelmed with excitement, I had to call my mom from the parking lot to fill her in! She was so proud of me!! (She, too, is quite a bargain shopper! Wonder where I got it from?!)

I also found this cute necklace for Shea, my friends Jess and Jon's cat! It's so cute and will go well with her brother's tie. (His name is JackBauer, and Jess and I found the tie for him on another Target trip!)

Tuckered Out

2008-04-09T19:58:00.000-04:00

I think we exhausted poor Ian when we were over at his house. Probably the reason I did get a picture of him was because he was sitting (or laying!) still! He looks so darn cute!!!

Emma Lovin'

2008-04-09T19:49:00.000-04:00

We went to our friends Stasi and Den's house to hang out with them on Saturday. We had so much fun chillin with them and their awesome kiddos! For some reason we got the most pictures of us with Emma...probably because she can't run around yet like her other siblings!

Emma and I were hanging out while talking to her mommy, Stasi, while she cleaned up after our yummy dinner.

Ben was having fun playing with Emma too.

My favorite picture of Emma and Ben...so adorable!!

Jacob, My Sweetie

2008-04-09T19:42:00.000-04:00

I got to hang with my man Jacob when we were at our friends' house too. He's such an awesome kiddo, and I've been so blessed to see him grow up. I love that I've been able to see him at all of life's stages so far and look forward to the fun ahead! He's got such a cute little face too...I just wanna give him kisses! :-)

The Little Reader

2008-04-09T19:28:00.001-04:00

We were at our friends house for Sunday dinner a few weeks ago when their son Isaac did something too cute not to photograph!

He looks like a little old man! But instead of reading the typical "old man" stuff, he's reading the comics!! He's so funny!!

He's so in to reading...very serious!!

Brinner?? Dinfast??

2008-04-09T19:16:00.000-04:00

What do you call it when you have breakfast for dinner? Well, I don't officially know, but I know that's what we did last week for dinner one night. And it was pretty yummy (if I must say so myself!). Here are a few pictures of our yummy food...

Ben started with a classic breakfast appetizer of Cheerios.

We had breakfast sandwiches as our main course.

Ben eating his sandwich...with quite an expression on his face!

What else would we have for breakfast dessert other than cinnamon rolls!

Good Food & Good Friend!

2008-03-31T21:03:00.000-04:00

OK, well we didn't actually eat the food together, but my friend Jess and I made some food together! We had been talking about going to Make and Take Gourmet (which had recently opened in our area) to make some meals to stock away in our freezers, but when we heard of a deal through a local radio station we switched locations. We got $50 gift certificates to Cena to Go for only $25!! It just makes me giddy to find good deals!!!

We got our certificates in the mail a few weeks ago, then we picked last Thursday as the day to meet and make our delightful dishes. And since our appointment was not until 6pm, we just had to find something to kill the time...so off we went to Christmas Tree Shops! That has to be one of our favorite places to go...good stuff at wonderful prices...a deal-seeking girl's best friend!

After toting our bargains to our cars, we headed over to Cena to get started. Since this was our first trip, the owner gave us a tour of the place and an overview of what to do.

This is the layout of the main portion of the building. Each recipe has its own section that includes a cooler for the meat and chilled ingredients, a counter top for assembly, and various ingredients in the chilled portion or on the shelf. There are also step-by-step directions on the shelf (which even include what kind of equipment to use). The equipment you need to mix up the lovely creations is on bakers racks that are placed throughout the room. And the best part -- you don't even have to clean up after yourself! You simply leave stuff on the counter and they take care of it for you!

This is me making crunchy ranch chicken! Yum! I also make chicken ravioli with a white wine sauce and london broil. (We had the london broil tonight and it was good! Even Ben, who can be particular about beef enjoyed it!)

This is Jess making her SanteFe chicken. It looked very yummy!

Our finale picture...we needed a good one when we still had our aprons on!

We had lots of fun making our meals and it was so easy too! We're thinking to do this again...perhaps at Make and Take. I wonder what kind of deals we can find for that place!? I feel blessed to have a good friend to do this with and a good husband to help me eat the yummy meals!

A Sunday Stroll

2008-03-29T15:20:00.001-04:00

On Sunday, Ben decided to take his tree stands down from last year, and he was going to take Sadie with him. I decided to join him and we ended up having a lot of fun trudging around in the mud up in the woods. We also decided to try something new with Sadie. She is usually on a leash when we take her out, but with all the open space and no cars we thought we would try to let her run free. She did really well! Since she loves people, she didn't stray too far. She loved being able to run too, and she ran like a mad woman!

Ben was climbing up to get one of his stands out of the tree with Sadie close by.

A self-portrait of sorts...see the sun!? So exciting! It was cold, but seeing the sun was so nice! Spring is certainly upon us and I can't wait to get out my sandals! (It will have to be quite a bit warmer for that to happen though!!)

Look at her go!! She was running all over the place! I love the action photo!

That's pup on the other end of the pond. She found something of interest over there cause she kept digging around and didn't want to go anywhere else!

It was so nice to spend some time outside. We're excited about spending time outside this summer building the house too! And we're excited to take pup with us. It will be quite an adventure!

The Easter Egg Hunt

2008-03-29T15:05:00.001-04:00

Well, Sadie pup heard there was an egg hunt going on and she just had to be a part of it. Well, she wasn't able to actually be a part of it but she tried to act like she was. Our neighbors had their grandkids over and Sadie heard them outside and got very antsy! She wanted to go play with the kids! She just loves to be with people! We did take her for a walk later (which you've probably already seen by now since I'm planning to post it next and blogger posts with the most recent first).

She was trying to get as close as she could to them!

She plopped her head down on the windowsill when she got tired of standing at the window! She just was just so enthralled with the egg hunt!

Even when she did leave the window to go into the kitchen, she kept looking back!

Happy Easter from the Websters!

2008-03-29T15:00:00.000-04:00

Ben & I got a bit dressed up for Easter Sunday. We tried to get a pic with Sadie too...but she wasn't so cooperative!! hehe We had a pretty quiet Easter, which was kinda nice. We went to church in the morning, then chilled at home for a bit (where I made deviled eggs for later), finally we went to my Aunt Marsha's for dinner with the family. It was a nice day to reflect on the amazing power of our Lord and Savior who conquered death and trounced on Satan in the process!

The Mighty Woodsman

2008-03-29T12:46:00.001-04:00

Ben has been spending lots of time up at the land recently cutting trees. In fact, that is where he is now! This is him last weekend with his manly assortment of chainsaws! Ben enjoys chopping up trees & we both enjoy not spending the money to have them cut by someone else!

My How I Love Him

2008-03-18T19:39:00.000-04:00

This is the man of my dreams and I feel so blessed that God put him in my life!! Here he is doing one of the things that I really appreciate and has been a very frequent occurrence during the past month or so...fixing one of the cars! This weekend it was my car that got the TLC from Ben. He put new rotors and calipers on which has helped decrease the shimmy-shake it had to almost nothing. What a blessing! He's so handy and I really appreciate that he can save us all the $$ that a garage would have cost. I just love him! (and what a cutie pitutie!!)

My Ode to Technology...Hillari Style

2008-03-17T19:45:00.000-04:00

I have to say that I'm really glad that I live in this age of technology. While I don't claim to be the best at it, I really enjoy the way stuff makes my life more enjoyable. I'm not a techno geek by any means, but a good electronic gizmo does get my blood pumpin a bit! So I thought I'd share with ya'll some of my favorites...

The beloved cell phone...while I don't particularly like this model (3 of them since July due to issues with it!) I love having one handy to call or text whenever I want!

The DVR is one of the best things since sliced bread! I can tell it what I want, then come back and it's magically there. And for an added bonus, you can fast forward through commercials!! (for an impatient person like me, that's amazing!!)

Our new-to-us digital camera is a fun, new toy (especially for Ben). While I've gotten good usage out of the HP camera my parents got me (shout out to them for the wonderful Christmas gift a few years ago!) we decided that a bigger and better model would be a good investment to add to our collection. We've enjoyed it already and look forward to lots of beautiful pics to come!!

My lovely HP laptop, which helps me blog for all you lovely folks (haha!) While it does give my problems some times due to its age, it's really handy to have!

And my newest gadget of fun...the automatic car starter! Ben got me this for Christmas and had some problems installing it so it just recently was fully installed. I love having this, especially with the cold winters we have in this area. Each morning I simply aim it out the window, double click, wait a minute, and Holly (my car) is running and warming up for me. I especially enjoy the little puffs of exhaust that show up on the remote when the car is up and running...so adorable!!

I hope you enjoyed my ode to technology. What are some of your favorite things?

My Thoughts Exactly...

2008-03-13T18:37:00.000-04:00

This picture kinda describes how I feel today! The look kinda says, "Another issue...what do I have to deal with now? You want what? I wanna go to bed." It was a rough day, but I'm grateful that I could come home after work. I'm happy that tomorrow's Friday and I get to do lots of fun stuff this weekend!! Yahoo!! (more on that later...if I remember the camera!)

I think she's adorable...no matter the expression!

Poor, Wet Pack Mule...

2008-03-08T15:48:00.000-05:00

...that was me just a few short hours ago. Poor, since we've had to spend A LOT of unexpected money on the truck...wet due to the rain that's been pouring down for days...and a pack mule because I lugged in tons of groceries.

The long walk from the truck to the house in the rain with groceries...at least it seems long under those conditions!!

My lovely pile of wet groceries.

Rain, rain, and more rain

I look thrilled, right...nice and wet...

But I am BLESSED above all. Ben was able to fix a lot of what was wrong with the car for MUCH less than the dealership was estimating. Blessed because we still do have money in the bank. Blessed because there is rain falling and not snow, which would have made getting groceries much more difficult. Blessed because I have an amazing husband who cares for me. Blessed to have wonderful family and friends. Blessed to have an adorable pup who is such a good companion when it is just the two of us in the house. Blessed to have used some of the food I bought to make jambalaya that is cooking away right now and should taste amazing for dinner!! Blessed most of all to have a Lord who cares about me as a unique person and loves me beyond measure.

Construction Fun

2008-03-04T19:28:00.001-05:00

Sunday we were able to help our friends Jess and Jon finish their basement. Check out their blog for daily updates. Jess is doing a wonderful job of updating it! While we only helped for a few hours, we had fun meeting Kate and Chris (Jon's sister and brother-in-law) and helping install insulation and electric. It was a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon! And it's good practice for our house adventures to come!

Pray, Please

2008-03-02T21:09:00.001-05:00

I know this isn't the best picture, but please pray for the family above. This is Jon, Stefani, and baby Cayden. I worked with Jon when he was diagnosed with leukemia about a year and a half ago. He fought hard and after unsuccessful treatments, he passed away this morning. My heart is broken for this family, even though I don't know them well. Please join Ben and I in praying for Stefani and Cayden as they walk through some hard days ahead. I can't imagine what they're going through, but God holds them in His hands. Please pray that they will feel God's comfort.

Allie's Birthday

2008-03-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

My darling Allie had her 17th birthday right after Valentine's Day. She wanted to go to Kampai (a local Japanese restaurant that does hibachi meals) for dinner with her friends (which included Ben and I). We had a lot of fun with them and had a yummy meal.

This is Allie after she climbed the hill in the snow (while wearing flip flops!) so she could get her picture taken next to the sign wishing her a happy birthday!

This is me, Allie, & Ben -- can you tell we're freezing!?

Wow...I've posted a lot today...I think it's a record! Hope you all feel a bit more caught up on our lives!