Friday Favorites!

TGIF!- Seriously!

Here are my favorites of this week :D

1) Running- 6 miles! Oh yea, I pumped out 6 whole miles!! So proud of myself :D

2) Disc Golf- I mentioned me and John have been trying to play a little more, well went went after I got off work one day this week and went to Cedar Hills. I love disc golf :D

3) The Following- I am obsessed. It's such a good show!

4) Pumking- I caved. I had a rule where I couldnt do anything "fallish" until Sept. Well 42 Craft Brew had Pumking on draft- so I caved. It was delicious :D 

5) CATCHING UP ON MY BLOG! I dont feel so stressed out about it anymore! haha ;D

That's all I gots for now. The big post pretty much captured most stuff. haha. BUT now I can stay caught up :D

Happy Friday y'all!

4 years later...

I know I am a month late on this post. But wow. It's already been 4 years since I lost my daddy. I dont know where all the time has gone. I miss him so incredibly much. Yes, life has gotten a bit easier, but there are still those days that I go to call him or wish I could ask him something. Those moments always bring tears to my eyes. 

I dont even really know what to say for this post. Memories flood my mind as I think of him and all he meant to me and my family. I know he loved us more than anything. It showed in how hard he worked for us and how he was always there for us. I think I'll share a few memories:D 

One of my favorite memories of my dad from when I was younger was when he was teaching me how to drive. He was always a jokster. Well, I wasnt even old enough to drive yet- didnt have my permit or anything! He pulls over one day and tells me to get in the drivers side and lets me drive the short distance the rest of the way home. Well I didnt know much about driving or cars or anything. But I did know the emergency brake would stop the car. Well jokingly he screams and yanks it up. I started freaking out and he's just laughing and laughing. It was broken and the brake didnt work (probably not safe to drive it, lol). He thought it was HILARIOUS. I punched him in the arm. haha. But I did a good job driving us the rest of the way home! I'll always remember that because I thought my dad was so cool for letting me drive. haha 

After he got sick, one of my favorite things to do when I went to visit him was to go sit on the patio with him and talk about winning the lottery. My dad always had such big ideas and big dreams. We would talk about how much the winner would get that week and if won, what we would do with it. It was always fun to dream like that with him. 

Another favorite memory from after he got sick involved both me and John going to visit him. We would pick him up sometimes and take him to see a movie. Well, one time, John met me at the nursing home and he had driven his Firebird. Dad didnt want to get in my car. He wanted to ride in Johns shiny red Firebird! haha. The car had T-tops and John and had put in a sound system. Well dad wanted the t-tops off and the music cranked up. I had to drive separately because we all wouldnt fit in the car, but it was worth it. I know he LOVED that trip. And it really swells my heart because I had such an amazing boyfriend in John at the time (still do :D). He was always so so so good to my dad. It was really nice of John to do that for him. 

Anyway, I think I'll start sharing more memories of him. I like to think about him and I have this fear that one day I wont remember much. It might be irrational, but I think it would still be nice to put some memories in writing :D So I think I will try to start doing that.

With our crazy schedules, all of us have not been able to do our "daddy day" this year yet. Hopefully we can do it soon though. I did want to share some pictures of us as I was growing up. I need to find more :D 

I love and miss you daddy. 

Love, your girl :D

Life Updates

Here are some life updates from the past few weeks months! haha

Work Life

I'll start with my job! I believe I mentioned that now that I am back at Brier Creek there were going to be more opportunities for me to grow here. Well, I am quickly working towards a promotion. So I am pretty excited about that. I've also been given a lot more responsibility here and have been able to help train two new people. I love the new challenges and look forward to keep growing :D

John- He finished the long freelance job he had been working on! It was quite exhausting to say the least, but we cannot complain about the extra money or the experience! His job at WRAL keeps moving his hours and days off around :(. Starting this week he does Football Friday. blah. So his days off have changed once again- now Wednesday and Thursday. Then in Sept he is actually switching to mornings for awhile. It will be nice that I get to see him every evening, but we are not sure how it's going to work with his sleep schedule. Working 2-9am doesnt allow for any good time to sleep :( or really much of anything at all :( So we'll see what happens. 

Home-ownership Life

I LOVE owning a house! Have I mentioned that before? haha. There is just so much to do! It can be frustrating and overwhelming, BUT totally worth it. We have so many projects that we want to do. The tricky thing is, EVERYTHING costs money. So do we do a few small projects? Do we save for the big ones first? It's really been a toss up. 

For example, we need gutters something fierce. The water just pours down the house and if we dont do something about it soon, we may have a larger issue on our hands. Gutters are not cheap. They arent crazy expensive, but they are not cheap. But then I got a bunch of free cabinets from work (SCORE!). They will be perfect in the garage. BUT before we put them up, we need to paint. So we decided to go ahead and cave and take on that small(er) project. We actually got a really good deal on paint at Lowe's. We want to do the top part light gray, the bottom dark gray, and a red stripe in the middle :D I'm really excited about it! I painted the first coat this past weekend and I didnt realize how much work it was! haha. It took me at least 5 hours just for the painting. That doesnt count how long it took us to prep the walls! My upper body definitely got a good work out! haha. Below is the before picture. I'll try to post pictures as we work on it :D

Messy Garage  

This was the first wall that was painted- thanks John :D

The garage is definitely our biggest project right now, but there are also other little things that we are trying to do. John wants to add lighting in our bedroom up in the crown molding. We have a double tray ceiling and it would make the lighting softer in there. We also want to clean and organize all the rooms. Honestly, having the cabinets up in the garage will help a lot. There just isnt a place to put some things and it would make sense to put them in a cabinet out there (ex. all my mason jars- where you do put them? Currently, they are on the floor in the guest room. LOL). We also still need to hang more pictures and put curtains up in some of the rooms. I think I want to change the ones in the livingroom and kitchen and find a way to make them a bit more modern, but we'll see. There is just SO much to do! 

In a few weeks it is already time for our house inspection! Being brand new, we have a one year warranty on the whole house. So we thought it would be a good idea to get that done in September, so the builders would have a little bit of time to fix anything that needs it. They have until Nov. 14th. Can you believe we've almost been in the house for a WHOLE YEAR?! I swear this year has just flown by. I hope that's not just because I'm getting old, but that, in fact, this year did just fly. lol I dont think I can handle it if the years start going even faster!

Since we now have a home and a space to do things, John decided to start changing the oil in our cars! He got all the supplies and has changed both of our cars. I'm really proud of him for doing this :D Hopefully it will save us some money in the long run, but it will definitely save time and we wont have to go to those gross places. Haha. Thanks boo!
I'm sure I mentioned this the first time I did it, but I love to make my own laundry detergent. It is so incredibly cheap! And it smells really good. I am actually still using up my last batch, but I wanted to go ahead and make some more for when I run out. The first batch will have lasted me about a year and a half! WOOT!

YAY home projects. We added some flags to our home :D We really got into the 4th of July spirit this year :D We had a big party and everything. To get ready for next it we added the American flag to the house and the Mr. Wuf flag to the mailbox :D 
We'll change them with the seasons. :D

Family and Friends
At the end of June my aunts tried to get all of our family down to visit my grandma. The cousins who could make it did and brought their kids! It is NOT the best picture, but here is my dad's side of the family! All my aunts, some of my cousins, my family, and of course grandma! She was really surprised, as she didnt know anything about it. It had been a really long time since I had seen most of them, so it was nice for everyone to get together :D

Now that my sister lives in Greensboro with her husband, I dont get to see her as much as I used to :( So I was excited when they were able to come to Jacksonville for the family get together :D I love and miss her when she is gone! 

Unfortunately, we also dont get to spend a ton of time with any family, so any time is nice. Carter was BEYOND thrilled to go visit grandma and grandpa. We went one day before John had to leave for work. Look how happy Carterbutt is. haha
My sweet mama! This was one day when she came over. We snapped a picture of her so she could put it up on Christian Mingle. She's decided shes ready to start meeting people. I'm so proud of her. I know that is a HUGE step. So many prayers for a new partner for my mom are much appreciated :D I know she is excited and scared at the same time. So prayers for a smooth process are good too :D 

Dinner with friends on multiple nights- this is a crazy bunch of folks. Here we are at Aviator Tap House- some DELICIOUS pulled pork and wings!


4th of July Party!!
I mentioned we got 4th of July happy this year- well I did and made John get in the spirit with me. lol. He loves me a lot and played along nicely. We decorated and made some food and the rest was potluck. Steve brought the pork and we smoked it out all day long. It was SO good. We had a great crowd come over and we played cornhole and then watched fireworks when it got dark. We can actually see them from our house! So party at our house every 4th! haha. It was a great time. I cant wait to throw another party :D

All decked out!

I went a little crazy with decorations :D

I love Mason Jars

Everyone got their own decorated mason jars :D



John found these online and thought I would love to do them. I did. They were awesome. Dont be surprised if you see them for other holidays. It's dyed rice and candles. LOVE.

Love this lady :D

and this one!

Baby Ty turned 1/2 year old! I love this little guy so much! :D and his parents :D I went down to Little Washington with Steve for his party. It was so good to see him :D 


These lovely people came over for dinner at our house! We've never had a place for them to really be able to come over to and now we do! We had  a GREAT time :D 
Cant wait to do it again soon! :D

We also had 2 sets of good friends get engaged over the past few months!
Mitch and Becca :D

and Brad and Jenny!

And what would a family/friend post be without one of The Carter :D
 Love this dude more than most people. haha

Adventures

Even with our crazy schedules, John and I try to fit in as many adventures as we can together :D One day he and some of the guys went fishing in the pond in our neighborhood. I only made it for the end and didnt catch anything, but John caught this massive guy! 

On another day we decided to take a random trip to Kinston, NC. Why? To tour a new brewery, try out a new disc golf course, and eat at one of the places John loved as a kid- Kings BBQ. We had a great time :D

At the brewery- didnt care much for their beer at all. But it was a neat place.

The bar part was very swanky. We were a bit under-dressed. Who would have guessed? lol

Some of the barrels they age their beer in. 

And we toured our first distillery! It was small, but very neat to see the process.

Then we headed to disc golf! I didnt win. lol but I never do. haha Then we went and got a DELICIOUS dinner. It's a little hole in the wall. But when John was a kid and his family was on the way to the beach, they would stop there for lunch. So he wanted to take me. Their pulled pork was amazing. We just went in for some pork, but then they had an open southern buffet. I'm pretty sure I ate myself into a food coma. It was SO good. haha It was a really nice day :D

John and I have been trying to play a lot more disc golf. It's fun, some exercise, and free! I really enjoy it. We've placed twice in the past two weeks. And before we played in Kinston, I hadn't played in over a year and a half. That is not okay. haha. I want to get better, so I can actually compete with John. Ha. We'll see if that ever happens. 

John and I have been playing at Kentwood park for about 7 years. Across from hole 2 there is a house and a dog that is always outside. The dog is HUGE. We joke and call it a horse. In all of the years we've played there, we never got to meet the dog- until last week!! He was a very sweet dog. (pictured below!) "what is that, a horse?!" haha.

Adventures in Food

Um I love food and I love cooking. Recently, Steve has been coming over and spending lots of time with us! One night, he brought over an entire steak filet thingy and cut his own steaks out of it! It was probably one of the best steaks I have ever had! While he was filleting it, I made some guacamole. It was also some of the best guac I have ever made (thanks, Steve!). We've made it a dozen times since then. haha 

How I made it, in case you are wondering (I dont have exact amounts):
Ingredients: 
Avocados
Cilantro
Red Onion
Jalapeno
Lime (fresh, squeeze the juice out!)
Tomato
Salt
Pepper

I like my avocado a bit chunky, so however you likes yours and then mix it all together :D
MMmmmm. :D

The full piece of meat before it was cut into steaks. 

And after it was cooked :D I like mine medium-rare :D

We also had another big sushi night with Steve! We had tuna, salmon, and shrimp for the fish. Then lots of other ingredients and sauces. So stinking good. I love sushi. I wish it didnt take so long to make, but it makes a lot! Below is our setup.

Steve searing the salmon. 

Its a bit blurry, but thats how much we got out of it. SO much sushi! haha. 

Other
I wasnt really sure which category to put this under, so I just made one by itself. Haha. Krystal became a Jamberry Consultant and introduced me to these nail wraps! The one on my ring finger is a wrap, all the others are regular nail polish. This was day 1. I'm going to post a pic of day 7 and probably even a week after that too, to show how the Jams hold up against regular polish. They are really neat! I kind of love them already :D

Whelp, thats it for now! I am definitely going to try to be more consist. This was too long of a post and I'm sure I left out plenty from over the past few months. But, such is life :D 

Have a great day!

Beach Trip!

Well now that this was 3 months ago- #blogfail. Honestly, I kept meaning to hop on Johns computer and get more pictures off, but at this point I would rather at least document what I remember and if I add more pictures later- great. If not, oh well. I just dont want to keep postponing this and I actually have a little time now :D 

Anyway, in May we went to the beach! haha. We were both finally able to take an ENTIRE week off together! We had rented a beach house in Corolla, NC and it was in the 4x area. The house was huge and gorgeous. We were very excited. We were also meeting friends up there- Krystal and Josh, Andrew and Kristian, and Hutch! Carter and Bailey also got to come!We drove down on a Saturday and stayed until the following Saturday. 

I wish I had gotten more pictures of the house- it was really nice. The top level had a master bedroom and the livingroom and kitchen. Krystal and Josh stayed up here. The second level had the front door, and 3 other bedrooms. This is the pictures from our master bedroom! It was really nice :D Andrew and Kristian also stayed on this floor.

The bottom floor had another master and the pool table area! This is also how we got out to the pool area. Hutch stayed down here! So we all had our own little space :D

The area we stayed in was really nice too. Pretty remote, honestly not as remote as I thought it was going to be since it was 4x4 but we still had fun. Unfortunately, the beach area was more like a highway, so we couldnt really go out there and sit all day without cars coming by. That's probably what I was most disappointed about. BUT there were wild horses everywhere! So that was a plus. Here are some pictures from our week: 

The Afternoon Delight

The pool:D

Carter LOVED the pool. He couldnt get enough swimming.

Bailey wanted so bad to get in, but never made it all the way

The guys had fun doing tricks into the pool

We also had a hot tub! Carter is basking in the sun in front of it. I LOVED the hot tub. The first night we could see a million stars. That night, we were all in the hot tub and there was this really annoying light on next door. It was on the porch and the house was empty. Andrew jumped over the pool fence and spiderman crawled up the side of the house and unscrewed it. It was HILARIOUS. I wish I had some better pictures of that. haha

BAHAHA!

This is as much snuggling as I have ever seen them do! They wore themselves out each day. 

It was awesome :D 

One day we went kayaking and fishing! Krystal and Josh took the kayak out for spin too. 

The nice thing about the outer banks, is you have the ocean on one side and the sound on the other. We kayaked on the sound.

We also celebrated Cinco De Mayo together! This was lunch- we made nachos and then for dinner fish tacos. Everything was delicious. In fact, the food was delicious every day. We ate incredibly well for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We all helped with something, but Andrew did most of the cooking and lets just say I've considered hiring him as my personal chef! haha.

Snuggle times with the Carter! :D

One of the days I decided to take a run with Carter. Well look what we ran into! A SHARK! It was dead. And it was actually the 2nd one we saw. On the first trip to the house, when we first got to the Outer Banks, Josh, Krystal, John, the dogs, and me were all in their SUV. I was looking out the window and screamed there was a shark on the beach. Nobody believed me, BUT I was right! and it was alive! Some guy came by and threw it back into the ocean. Crazy!

That's pretty much all I have for now. I know, next time I need more pictures. That and I need to blog more often so I remember everything. On the way back, John and I did stop for some seafood! Then we made the long drive back home. :( When we pulled up to our house, there was a new one being built across the street! The entire frame and such was up. It was quite a shock as there wasnt anything there before we left! haha. We were able to go out for one last "vacation" dinner together after we unloaded and then enjoyed each others company for the rest of the night. Now, 3 months later, I'm ready for another vacation. haha. Maybe we can take a small trip some time soon :D