Life's A Beach....

Andrew Jennings Fort

2012-02-09T12:44:00.001-05:00

What a weekend! I know it's Wednesday (now Thursday) but I am still relishing in how fast life changed for us in a matter of minutes. I'm also still catching up on sleep....even though it is in 3 hour increments. I want to record our birth story so we always have it.....it was quite an experience! If you are not into the details, feel free to scroll straight to the pictures or close this window all together. Nothing overly gross occurred but I don't want to forget any moment of that day and the days that followed.

Of course Thursday was a hard day for me so I laid really low Thursday night in preparation for Friday. David and I actually got some sleep Thursday night (I really didn't think I would) and we got up and made it to the hospital right at 6am. I got called back to get prepped for surgery and David had to stay in the lobby. Once we got certain things done, David came back to sit with me while we waited. Once all the doctors came back to see me and talk to me about what would happen, plus getting my IV started, they wheeled me to the operating room. The surgical team consisted of my doctor, some techs, an anesthesiologist, his assistant, and a labor & delivery nurse. There might have been more people in there but I don't recall them. They were an energetic bunch...singing, dancing, etc. They really made the entire experience something I'll never forget. My doctor proved to be an amazing surgeon and got after the job while singing "This is How We Do It"......I do remember hearing that song being sung....then hearing some jamming music on a stereo after the baby was out. The surgery, in general, went well. I got my spinal and immediately started feeling tingling in my feet. It wasn't long before I couldn't feel my lower half at all. They tested me to see if the spinal actually worked and as soon as it had, they got to work. I remember thinking they were starting before David was there and told them they needed to get him. I can't imagine what was going through his mind when he walked in and saw me laying there, with a sheet up at my chest and all those folks around me. From the time David got there until Drew was with us was ohh.....3 minutes. Literally. I recall some seriously heavy pushing (sitting?) on my chest and upper abdomen and that was how they push the baby out. Doc stuck his head up over the sheet and told David the umbilical cord was wrapped twice around his neck and immediately went behind the sheet and got back to work. There wasn't any crying at first, then after what seemed like eternity, Drew's first cries. They put him on oxygen for just a second because of the cord, but he didn't need much at all. What originally started out as a necessary c-section because of placenta previa turned into some sort of divine intervention.....I'm not sure we would have Drew with us now if I had done a vaginal delivery. Scary stuff to think back on but oh so thankful for the skilled work of our doctor. All the while this was going on south of the sheet, the CRNA (nurse anesthetist) was up at my face keeping me posted and calm....she would gently rub my cheek or bend down and tell me what was going on so that I wouldn't worry. She was awesome. Her name was Cecilia and I'll likely never forget how she made me feel during that time. Once Drew was out, David went and took pictures while Brenda, the L&D nurse took care of him. She is another one we'll never forget. David and Drew went to the nursery on the maternity floor while I was moved to a rolling bed and whisked away to recovery. I stayed there two hours and got some rest while the feeling came back in my lower half. I remember asking the recovery nurse if there was something on my legs.....they'd been on my legs the whole time but I was just able to feel it. They were massaging wraps that prevent blood clots and they were so annoying after spending ALL day friday in them. I also had a catheter inserted in my bladder which was nice when I couldn't get up to go to the bathroom. It was really strange however, never having the sensation of having to pee or actually peeing. Crazy. After a couple hours and feeling back in my legs, they wheeled me up to the maternity floor and my room. I finally got to hold my little boy and it was amazing! He looked so little and so perfect. The nursery took him back periodically to keep a check on him so Friday he was in and out of the room. I had to try and nurse around lunch time and he did pretty good. I guess colostrum is so important for newborns and I'm glad he got what he needed because it didn't feel good. We had a lot of visitors on Friday and when I think back, it was such a blur. I was hooked up to an IV, a catheter, those go-go boot massage things, probably a little morphine and lord knows what else. Every once in a while, the nurses would come in and check my incision and push on my stomach. It was SO uncomfortable but ultimately helpful because they were pushing fluids out and helping my uterus drop back into place. By Friday night, the nurses decided that maybe I didn't need the go-go boots and could try to stand up to use the bathroom. My legs worked fine and eventually they unhooked the IV as well. It made sleeping that night a much better experience, however as pain meds wore off, I started to really feel the trauma that my mid section went through that morning. Sitting up to feed Drew was such a chore and getting out of bed to use the bathroom was a struggle. BUT, by Saturday, I felt much better and was able to take a shower and put on real clothes. We continued to have visitors....our parents, friends and a few kids from the gym. My parents were in and out all weekend because of my Granddaddy's funeral that I was really bummed I had to miss. Saturday went on without too many problems. Same old routine with feeding Drew, the nurses checking on me and people in and out. There was such a comfort knowing that Drew and I both were going to be very well taken care of in the hospital, but I was longing for the time we could go home and start "real life." Sunday came and by lunch time, we were cleared to go. It took a while to get discharged, but once we did, we stopped by Jen & Curry's house to let Liza & Margaret meet Drew for the first time. It was hysterical. Liza was enthralled with him and Margaret yelled, "He's my cousin?" and "Is he cute, Liza?" in her sweet, albeit loud, 2.5 year old voice. They both held him and loved on him and yes, they both used plenty of "magic soap" before doing so. Jen & Curry got their fill of holding a tiny little baby and we decided it was time to go home for real. I was pretty exhausted, in a little pain and we just couldn't avoid the inevitable any longer. David and I were on our own. Thankfully, my parents planned to stay with us until Wednesday which was a God-send. Having 2 extra set of hands when you are unsure of everything related to baby was really nice. It was a roller coaster weekend for us all, but especially for my mom and dad (& me) with the death of Granddaddy and the birth of Drew. I remember checking my watch Sunday afternoon as we drove home and it was 3:00pm on the dot.....the same time Granddaddy's funeral was starting.....it was a tough time to be sitting in my car and not in Clinton but I looked over at Baby Drew and realized that this is where I needed to be. The funeral was recorded and we have a DVD of it so I'll take some time to watch it and I can't wait for Drew to be old enough to hear stories about him. SO anyways.....We were officially home Sunday afternoon. Other than a very sleepless and restless first night, things have been relatively smooth. I was so anxious having a baby in a small crib beside the bed and didn't want to take my eyes off of him for fear that he would stop breathing or miraculously roll over and suffocate.....I also had weird dreams that I was ruining whatever I was doing and would wake up startled and check on him. It has gotten easier since then and last night was the best night thus far......I don't know if it's because I was able to get good sleep in 3+ hour increments AND still hear him cry when he needed me or if its because every time I changed him last night he DIDN'T pee or poop on me, but it was a better night. I feel sleep deprived but do not feel totally like a zombie and for that, i am thankful. Probably the hardest thing to adjust to at this point is his feeding. I am nursing him and although I think it is going well, I don't think it is perfect yet. It is painful and I am sore and I worry that he isn't getting what he needs. But after an email to a good friend (Thanks Em!), I realized that what I'm experiencing is totally normal and even on the good end of the breastfeeding stories. I also called a nurse in the nursery at the hospital this morning and she gave me some good ideas to try and assured me that Drew was not affected by my discomfort/bleeding/whatever. If it became way too painful for me to handle, I could always pump the one side and have him feed off the other. I'd rather him be able to use both, so I'm using that as a last resort. Hopefully they will heal and I can be more diligent in making sure Drew is latching correctly and I'm comfortable throughout nursing instead of just dealing with it and counting down the minutes.

All in all, this has been a wonderful experience and one that will never end for us. David and I constantly look at Drew and say things like, "You're so cool" or "You are just precious." As big of an adjustment as this is going to be as time goes on, I couldn't be happier knowing that we have a healthy, seemingly happy baby on our hands and (cross your fingers, toes, eyes, whatever) a decent sleeper on our hands. I know things change daily but I'm confident that we will know what to do and when to do it and Drew will be a great kid.

Drew's Stats:

Andrew Jennings Fort
2-3-12
7:38am
7lb 8oz birth weight
19.5 inches

2-5-12 - Discharged from hospital
7lb 1oz
5.1 on the "billi" scale for jaundice (under 10 is good)

2-7-12 - First pediatrician appointment
7lb 13oz (fatty!! Guess nursing is working!)
20 inches long

I plan to upload more pictures today of his first week home and blog about that tomorrow.....until then, these are the pictures from Friday - Sunday in the hospital and one from home.

Friday morning (2/3/12) heading to the hospital

First picture

The Forts

Our healthy baby

I finally get to hold him!

Dad & Drew

Aunt Jen & Uncle Curry

Morgan & Nate

Granny Soo Soo

Bop & July

Louie & Janice

Faith came to visit right after school

Sassy & Papa finally made it!

Great uncle Glenn

Cousin Lissa

Gym moms....Marlette & Tammy snuck out of practice to come check on us!

Cousin Todd

Great Aunt Martha Sue

Cousins Patti & Herb

BFF Klug (Lauren Heuber)....drove up from Charleston to visit Saturday.

Courtney & Cindy Turner

Jaymie Danford

Faith, Jaymie & Courtney after practice on Saturday

Kelly Hughes (Whitney is scared of hospitals) :)

Look who snuck in! Sara Watson

Olivia Watson

Couldn't stop staring at this kid!

Shane & Bekah Wallce

Drew taking a snooze

Mom and Drew snoozing

Drew with Granddaddy's funeral bulletin

Leaving the hospital!

Brenda....our L&D nurse....she was WONDERFUL (as were the rest of the staff)

Margaret meeting Drew

Liza & Margaret holding their cousin, Baby Drew

Uncle Curry looking like a natural

Chillin in the Mama Roo when we got home.....he loves it!

The Circle of Life.....

2012-02-02T19:26:00.000-05:00

I am starting this post on Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 10:30am.....a day that I should be (and probably will be) filling with last minute to-do items in preparation for the big day tomorrow. I woke up early this morning....normal for me lately....and came downstairs where I ate breakfast and eventually fell back asleep. My dad called while I was napping on the couch and when I got his voicemail, my heart broke into hundreds of little pieces. The inevitable was happening and there was nothing I could do about it, nor could I change the sheer joy that I hope to experience on Friday. But my Granddaddy, who was in the hospital but is now at his oldest son's house, is in his final stages of life. Hospice is coming this morning to administer morphine as much as he needs to keep him peaceful. He isn't aware of the people around him. He was in a lot of pain but appears to be at peace now. There is no telling how long he'll stay in this state but knowing him, it won't be long. He isn't the type of man that would want to hang on in this state.

I am crying while writing this because I am sad for US.....I don't want to lose him. I selfishly wanted him to hang on and meet our son in the coming weeks and get pictures to have forever. He has seven children, 14 grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren on the way. One of which will be here tomorrow. He has quite a legacy and I know that the highest honor I could serve him would be to have a child. But I don't want to share in these strange mixture of emotions. I want to feel the happiness for ourselves and when the time is right, I want to grieve for my Granddaddy. But it feels like I might have to share those two spectrums. We'll see.

Now, it is 6:25pm and we have just returned from our Pre-Op appointment at the hospital. Literally, as I was checking in for the appointment at 2:50pm, my dad called to tell me that Granddaddy passed away about fifteen minutes before that. I was kind of a mess in the doctors office/hospital and my nurse decided not to take my blood pressure. She just checked the baby's heart beat and said it sounded great! SO, as I expected, Granddaddy went peacefully and without pain. I know some of his kids were with him. I know that he is in a much better place and is finally reunited with Grandma. I also realize that this was the only way he'd be able to see and share in the joy we will experience tomorrow. He'll be looking down and quite proud of what he helped create many years ago. God works in strange and amazing ways and it is as though he was making room for another equally amazing human to walk the earth. My dad and his siblings seem to be doing okay. I hope I can be there for any type of memorial/funeral that we have, but of course I will do what I can with the situation as it is.

Anyways, although my heart is heavy, David and I will have the experience of a lifetime tomorrow and I have to be prepared for that. Granddaddy was an extremely brilliant, hard working, caring man who lived a long and full life. I am proud to be his granddaughter and am proud to be adding to his family tomorrow. Below are a collection of pictures that I have on my computer and a great way for me to remember how awesome my Granddaddy will always be.

Granddaddy's family

Granddaddy and his oldest son, Jimmy, who played for ECU and eventually for the Dodgers

At my wedding

They are so much alike

One of his favorite ways to pass the time

Me and Granddaddy walking down for Matt's wedding

Dad & Granddaddy at Matt's wedding

One prepared man....watching Cody play baseball at UNCW

At a UNCW baseball game watching Cody

He LOVED some babies!

Grandaddy and his kids

Granddaddy and all his boys

Four generations....

Getting ready to blow out candles on his Snoopy birthday cake....his last dog was named Snoopy

Granddaddy and his sister and her husband at his bday party

Granddaddy's 90th birthday party in May 2011

Thanksgiving 2011.....he was in the hospital but made it to Ann's for lunch

This was Christmas this year....the last time I saw him. He looked great!

CoCo & Co

2012-01-31T10:23:00.001-05:00

So as I've mentioned before, the gal who ~~helped me with~~ did my nursery, Bekah Bishop Wallace, owns her own little shop in Calabash, NC......CoCo & Company Boutique. It is an incredibly cute, stylish place with one of a kind items. She is incorporating some new items as well since her return from the Atlanta market and has a great outlook for 2012. More importantly, she is jumping on the blogging train and her new blog is live......

www.cocoandcoboutique.blogspot.com

Her announcement of her new blog on facebook was accompanied with the above video which reminded me of another video that I've always adored:

LOVE.THIS.KID.

Life as we know it....

2012-01-30T09:35:00.001-05:00

Life as we know it is 4 days from being TOTALLY different. I can honestly say that I'm ready and am glad I'm going a little early. The doctor was hoping and praying to get me to 38 weeks and the plan is to have a scheduled c-section this Friday (2/3/12) which puts me at 38w 4d. Yay! I've had weekly or less-than-weekly appointments to keep a check on my placenta previa (the reason I'm having a c-section for those that don't know). It has and continues to be totally asymptomatic and I've felt or experienced nothing out of the ordinary with the condition. The dang placenta just never moved and is in the way! Doc wouldn't let me travel after the first full weekend in January so we've been filling our weeks with work, hanging around the house and getting last minute things done. I'm not very anxious/nervous right now but I imagine that Thursday night will be a restless sleep. I'm ready to meet the little guy that has taken up so much room in my mid-section lately. Everything looked good in the last u/s.....big head, good heart rate, measuring around 7lb 11oz and very active. I've put on 20 lbs exactly and its mostly all belly/baby. I think my butt got a little bigger but David is smart enough not to mention that if he also thinks that is the case.

38 weeks.....Jackson is as excited as we are to see what's in there!

This weekend, we ate dinner with Steve & Julia Friday night and came back to the house to relax....I worked all week and was a little worn out. I also worked Saturday morning and knew that I would be super tired if we did anything more than chill Friday night. Saturday night we met up with Kelly/Whitney, Jay/Suzanne and eventually Jenna/Cleve for a "last Saturday night" blowout before baby. I wondered what a 9-month pregnant lady did on her last Saturday night.....we had a great dinner at Carrabas and went to Buffalo Wild Wings so David & Whit could watch the NC State basketball game. BW's was fun....everyone had a good time and the waitress would giggle at me every time she'd bring another round and my stout water with lemon joined the frosty glasses on her tray. We stayed out until midnight and left the other folks there. It was a ton of fun and a great way to spend our Saturday night. I'm really thankful for our little group of friends around here and can't wait for our little nugget to get to know them. Sunday we chilled around the house....I had some major cleaning I wanted to do and David had to winterize the jet ski so we got all of that done. Of course, David and his dad went out to the farm to take care of my jet ski and forgot the key so I loaded up the dogs and took them out for some farm-fun. They wear out as quickly as I do and we came home about an hour later for some PB&J sandwiches for lunch. I put together a casserole for dinner, worked on gym stuff most of the afternoon, cleaned the floors and picked up before Bekah & Shane came over to share our casserole for dinner. I love cooking new recipes that I find but I am not one that can eat the same leftovers for 3 or 4 days so it is always nice to have people to share with. Of course, this time next week, I might relish in the idea of having the same meal 3-4 nights in a row just because I didn't have to work to get it. :) Anyways, it was a great weekend and I am looking forward to a good week leading up to the delivery.

BW's "late night"

Sweet Maddie having the time of her life....

My precious babies....their lives' might be a little different but you know I'm still gonna love these hounds.

I can't get enough of that face....he is such a momma's boy.

Getting used to less

2012-01-16T11:02:00.002-05:00

As in...DOING less. It is hard. I was home this weekend while my team was in Maryland for a big meet. I got text updates throughout every session (5) and could almost picture the exact routine that brought a certain score. Some scores baffled me, but after talking to either of the coaches there or the kids, I was quickly informed of start values, reasons for such start value, etc. It was ALMOST like being there.....but not really. Not at all. I guess it was good for me because as nervous as I got while being home, I know how anxious I would have been if I'd been there. I don't get nervous because I think they will hurt themselves or do poorly.....I get nervous because most of our kids work so hard and they get one chance in a meet. I just want them to succeed so badly that I pace, bite my fingers, have sweaty palms and in general get into my own special meet mode when I'm coaching at a meet. My blood pressure and stress level during that probably would not be good for this baby I'm cooking. Funny thing is, I don't think I show my nervousness at meets as parents have mentioned how nervous Louie has looked before but never me! But I promise you, I get antsy. Maybe it's because I know EXACTLY how those girls feel. Anyways......the kids did pretty well this weekend. It's the beginning of the season and we have a lot of big meets coming up to prepare for. This weekend will be a good stepping stone for some of our kids and a good learning experience for others. Some of the high points from the competition:

*April (L9) - All around champion and event finalist of floor
*Gilly (L10) - 2nd Place All Around, 1st on Vault & Beam. Qualified to Event finals on Vault, Bars & Beam.....at Event finals, played it safe on beam and WON!
*Courtney (L10)- 2nd place on vault. Qualified to event finals on Bars but was unable to stay in Maryland an extra day to compete.
*Olivia W (L10) - 4th place on beam....for those that might know Olivia and our relationship on beam....this is a major accomplishment....she hit her routine with her layout and scored a 9.0!
*Maya (L7) - All Around Champion
*Ashlyn (L7) - All Around Champion
*Cassey (L7) - All Around Champion
*Eleni (L8) - 2nd place All Around
*Devin (L8) - 3rd place All Around
*Shamonica (L8) - 1st Place Bars

Gilly

So, as you can see, there were some high points at the meet. I hate I wasn't there but have confidence in these kids' preparation. It won't be the last meet I miss so I might as well get used to it! Great Job Flippers!

The Best of 2011

2012-01-01T22:52:00.000-05:00

As promised, I wanted to post my favorite pictures of 2011.....this is more for me than it is for my 4 readers because I LOVE looking back on my pictures and being reminded how lucky I am.....

Out with 11 and in with 12....

2012-01-01T20:54:00.000-05:00

New Year's Eve is a special day for a couple reasons. For starters, it is David's birthday. Second, it's NYE and that always means a good time. We started out the day at the farm where the dogs got to run around, David worked on a few projects and poor Maddie had to get a haircut. After that, we went to McAlisters for lunch and the Kangaroo Pouch to use some coupons that were expiring that day. We got home and I hung out around the house and David went back out to the farm later to hunt. As for our actual NYE plans for hte night.....We just weren't sure what we wanted to do vs. what we SHOULD do. I mean, I am 8.5 months pregnant and don't really belong in a bar after midnight with a bunch of people who can still hang. We tossed around a few ideas and settled on a generous invitation from Shane & Bekah to join them and mama Dawn at Sunset Beach for dinner, birthday cake (surrounded by sweet 16 doughnuts) and some laid back fire-side sitting outside on the waterway. We actually made it to ring in the new year and left shortly after to hit the hay. On New Year's Day, we woke up feeling great, met Shelburne & Liz for breakfast at The Shack and came back to the house to do some cleaning up. Our spare bedroom was a WRECK and we got it all cleaned up for whoever might want to come and stay when the baby is here. Around lunch, we were invited back over to the Wallace beach house for our fill of black eyed peas, collard greens, boston butt & cornbread. It was a beautiful day for sitting on the porch, hanging out with great people. We left there to come back home where I proceeded to look for Cooper River Bridge Run houses, take a nap and do....nothing. David went hunting. A little leftovers for dinner and a movie and that rounds out our New Year's Day.

2011 was a good year but great things will happen in 2012. For starters, we'll welcome a little Fort. That isn't too far away and things will fall into place as they should after that. Here's to a great 2011 and an even better 2012!

Breakfast of champions on a holiday

I love that Jackson looks like he is smiling here....

My cuties hanging out at the farm

David being handy

I slaved over this Vanilla Pound cake and powdered doughnuts ALL DAY....sort of.

This dog LOVES to be in a lap or two....

Happy New Year from The Fort's

These fireworks may or may not have been set off by someone I know

New Year's Day Beach Picture

Lunch at the Wallace beach house....so yummy

Bruce chillin

Christmas, Christmas & more Christmas

2011-12-30T22:55:00.000-05:00

It is Friday night, December 30 and I just now feel like I've caught up on life since Christmas started. For us, it started Christmas Eve morning with breakfast at the Bekah and Shane Wallace house. Then, we ended up in Whiteville at the Edward's annual Christmas party. It was a nice party and Santa even showed up for the kids! David took advantage of having a sober driver and I drove us back to Little River that night so we could go to the Martin's house Christmas morning and watch Liza & Margaret play with all their goodies. We got up at a decent hour Christmas day and exchanged gifts. Santa got me a Canon 7D, which is amazing and I can't wait to REALLY know how to use it. I also got a pair of earrings that are a match to the bracelet I got for our anniversary. They are beautiful. Both of those presents shut me up because all week I kept asking David if he was expecting something to come in the mail, or if the rest of my presents were in Whiteville or something. I mean, he had like 12 presents and I had 2. Of course, once I found out what was in each present, I promptly opened my mouth and inserted my foot. After saying thank you. Santa brought David a lot of clothes, a hunting jacket, socks, nice long johns, etc. Christmas is always a good time to update a closet!

At the Martin's, we enjoyed brunch with the whole David Fort side of the family and the Martin side of the family. Margaret entertained us in her dress up outfits and Liza danced with the Wii, performed various medical procedures on "patients"and we all ate a delicious breakfast. We left there and hit the highway to Clinton to see the Raynor side of the family. As usual, it was a good time and so great to see everyone.....especially Granddaddy! Another holiday and that man is still here to celebrate with us! We ate fantastic food and played the Dirty Santa game, which as usual, provided plenty of entertainment. We came home with a nice fleece and a travel flat iron. We left Clinton around 8 or 8:30 and David drove us home safely to the beach.

On the 26th, we woke up and went to Steve & Julia's house just down the road for brunch and family Christmas on his side. Julia's kids were there, along with us, the Martin's and the Tripps. Not to mention James, Lindsay & Uncle Jim. We exchanged gifts, had great food (again) and (again) were totally entertained by the kids. Margaret has an enthusiasm for life that is unmatched by just about anyone. She is so fun. Liza is so smart, lovable and just plain cute. Eli & Ean are both a bundle of fun and I'm always giggling at something Eli said. After a few hours there, it was back to Whiteville for more Christmas fun.

David and I met Jen, Curry, the girls & Soo Soo at Soo Soo's house in Whiteville to exchange our presents before heading to Granny Sledge's house for dinner with the extended Sledge/Magenbauer family. The girls got dress up clothes, leotards, books, leap pad cases and games and more. We all got spoiled with great gifts that we needed (new sheets)!! We moved on to Granny Sledge's around 6 and enjoyed dinner, laughing, more presents and just generally a good time with family. Granny was in her room and awake part of the night so we all got a chance to go in and talk to her. Such a sweetheart! We left there again around 8 to head back to Little River.

I had to coach Tuesday - Thursday mornings and was looking forward to having the afternoons to catch up on EVERYTHING. Tuesday, we cleaned, took down inside Christmas decorations and fixed soup for dinner because we were having people over to watch the NC State Bowl game. We had a great time with Kelly & Whitney, Jenna & Cleve. It was late when the game ended so I'm pretty sure I fell asleep in 2.2 seconds. Wednesday, I worked and was running errands that afternoon returning some things, picking up some stuff from Jen and looking forward to getting home and kicking back for the night. I got a text from David that we'd been invited to dinner at the Beach House at 7pm......I shed a small tear for the fact that I wasn't going to be in my PJ's at 7pm, but got over it because that meant we'd get to hang out with the Magenbauer families from VA, the Woodards, Martins, Soo Soo, etc. I shopped until I wanted to lay down in the middle of Target and take a nap, then went to the beach house early to hang out and simply sit down. I was worn slam out. Dinner was good and fun but I had to go around 8:30pm to avoid falling asleep on the 15 minute drive home. Thursday I worked and after a short couple of errands afterwards, I got home and was around the house the rest of the day! Woop! David had a guys night at the farm Thursday night so not only did I have the night at home with no agenda, but I was alone and it was quiet (with the exception of the occasional whining dog). Friday, again, I had no plans and what a wonderful feeling! I got so much "catch-up" work done for the gym and even feel somewhat prepared (work wise) to have this baby and not have administrative work hanging over my head. David came home after a fun night with the boys, Bekah came over and we hung stuff up in the boy's room. It's coming along nicely and I'll have pictures tomorrow when I have good natural lighting to take pictures in. Tonight, we ate leftovers, watched a movie and YES, I was in pajamas by 7pm. Life is good.

Tomorrow (New Year's Eve) is David's 35th birthday. It's also New Year's Eve and I'm 8.5 months pregnant. We pondered what to do for his birthday AND NYE and we couldn't come up with much that didn't include being out and me being "that pregnant lady" in a bar after midnight. Hmph. So, considering I don't really care about being "that lady" in the bar EVER, we'll probably do dinner somewhere and ring in the new year at home. OR, we'll go up to Sunset Beach to the Wallace beach house and play with fireworks left over from the wedding. We'll see.....it's David's birthday and he can decide.

I'll report later on what we did to ring in the new year but it'll probably be a boring post. Something that wasn't so boring was the fact that I nearly lost ALL my pictures on my computer (over 30,000) when Iphoto crashed as I was importing Christmas photos. Eek! I wanted to cry, but then again, knew that I should have been better at backing up my computer, etc. Thankfully, I'm an apple care customer and Apple takes great care of folks like us. Thanks to Rex, in Oregon, I have my pictures. I don't even know that guy but he's my hero of the week. In honor of having my pictures back, on Sunday, I'm going to post my favorite pictures from 2011. I might even sleep with my new external hard drive (that now houses all of my pictures) under my pillow. Have I mentioned how awesome apple is?? I really like them and their customer service. And I really like that it's 10pm and I'm ready for bed.....goodnight friends.

Merry Christmas from The Fort's

2011-12-24T12:17:00.003-05:00

Bahamas Team Trip

2011-12-20T21:20:00.000-05:00

Another team trip in the books and again, it was a safe and successful trip. Last Thursday, we met at Myrtle Beach Airport at 6:30am to head to Nassau for our annual Team Trip. Our parent in charge this year was Rachel Sprouse and we were also joined by John & Marlette Watson. Other than that, it was Louie & myself and 10 of our Level 9 and 10 gymnasts. We had no problems getting to the Bahamas and by 3:00pm were checking in to our hotel. We stayed at the Atlantis on Paradise Island and our rooms were in the very-affordable Beach Tower. It was nice and we had a great time. The girls had fun hanging out around the resort, made full use of the free water park and the available and affordable shopping. We worked out Friday morning and THANK GOODNESS we did....the lighting was really weird because it was in a ballroom and I'm glad the girls had a chance to feel the equipment and get used to the lighting. Friday afternoon/night, we hung out in the gorgeous 80 degree weather most of the day and let the girls get what they wanted for dinner since it was the night before their meet. Saturday we ate a good breakfast just off of Atlantis property and came back to the hotel to get ready for the competition. The girls did great for their first meet of the season and we were really proud of how focused they were. After the meet, the girls got all dressed up and we took a cab to downtown Nassau to eat at the Green Parrot and watch the Christmas boat parade. In typical island fashion, they didn't honor our reservation (although they totally remember talking to me and greeted me with "Hey Rebecca"). So we waited about an hour for a table. THEN, once we finagled a table, we wanted another hour and a half for our food. It was ridiculous. The food was good and the atmosphere was cool (I liked it....some of them didn't). It was an open-air restaurant/bar on the water and was laid back......too laid back to handle large crowds but definitely a cool place to hang out. I think what compounded the frustrations was that our girls hadn't eaten a meal since breakfast. Oh well. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing and this experience just made them appreciate timely service even more. Sunday was our "funday" and we let the kids pick what they wanted to do. Louie was taking a group snorkeling on a catamaran and I was taking girls to a dolphin encounter. Seven of the girls did the snorkeling and five of them did the dolphins. Both seniors did both activities which was appropriate and so fun. I've never been one to care about petting/hugging/kissing/dancing with dolphins but it was really cool and I'm so glad I did it! That day wore everyone out pretty well and we had a few people that were in bed by 8:30pm that night! We were leaving the next morning so it was crunch time for the kids to find last minute gifts/t-shirts/get hair braids. We got picked up from the hotel at 11:00am, flew out of Nassau at 1:45 and were back in the states by 2:30pm. We had a 6 hour layover in Ft Lauderdale and although I was dreading it, it turned out to not be so bad. We took the girls out of the Spirit terminal (which is more than terrible) and we ate decent food and laid around playing cards, talking, etc for a few hours. It was another short flight to Myrtle and by 10pm we were home! All in all, a great trip with great people. My hope is that the kids remember this trip forever and cherish the experiences they get because of gymnastics. Nothing is better than traveling with your team and getting to know them (& coaches) on a more personal level. It truly was a great time.

I'm even more excited that I was allowed to go on the trip and came home still pregnant (Louie mentioned one time how cool it would be to have the baby in the Bahamas......totally not cool). Anyways, it was a different experience being pregnant and not doing all the activities but I still had a good time. I go to the doctor in the morning and can't wait to find out any new news on Baby Fort.

Christmas is so close and I still have a little shopping to do! I am looking forward to this year's Christmas as it will be our last calm one for a while!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy & safe New Year!

The group at Virgils when we first got to Atlantis

The view from our room

The team before practice on Friday

A beautiful Friday morning

Poor Jaymie & Marci

Level 10's on the beach

Olivia, Sara, Marci, Bug, Emma, Lo, Lyss, Gilly, Courtney and Jaymie

After the HUGE drop slide....they all survived!

Sara & Bug heading to another slide

The girls running around the water park

The not-so-lazy river

Dressed up for a night on the "town"

Bug & Lyss

Rachel & Lyss

The girls with Louie & Becca

Olivia & Jaymie after the braids

Fun times with Andy, the dolphin

Emma & Courtney.... last team trip as an Ocean Flipper

Olivia, Jaymie, Emma, Courtney & Marci

Dolphin Encounter at the Blue Lagoon Island

Group picture of Andy and the Ocean Flippers

RIP Kali

2011-12-12T12:45:00.000-05:00

Sad phone call today.....at one point in our life together, David and I fed 7 dogs. Jackson & Maddie at the house, and Sally, Ginger, Hank, Reba, & Kali at the farm. We have since found awesome homes for all the farm dogs (David's schedule and work focus changed, so finding them a place where they could do what they love was a good feeling). Kali, the precious German Shorthair Pointer was SUCH a cute puppy that turned into a fun-loving/people-loving family pet for a friend of David's. Just as recent as Saturday, he spoke to the owner (he's had her for some time now) and the guy said she was doing great. LOVED being right next to him and his daughters took great care of her. Welp, David got a phone call this morning saying that one of his dogs was found dead on the side of the road. Kali always kept the collar we gave her because it had her name and a working phone # on it.....so David got the call. He rode out to where the person said she was and sure enough, it was Kali. I haven't seen Kali in quite a while but knowing that a precious doggie life was cut short today just breaks my heart. She did live on a busy/fast road and she must have explored a little too close to the edge this morning or last night. But still, it makes me wish for one more slobbery kiss or annoying jump on my chest that she was so good at. It's weird but I was thinking of her on Sunday when we were riding out to the farm.....we named her after a town we love in Montana (and we also love the people we know there!). Kalispell Fort. Kali for short. Such a cute girl. We'll always love you Kali!!

Baby Shower #1

2011-12-11T14:02:00.001-05:00

I've had one baby shower so far in this pregnancy adventure and it was rather awesome. It started out Friday night when Joy got to town and we went down to the beach house in Myrtle Beach. We had dinner at Liberty and caught up on everything from work, life, relationships, pregnancy, and her impending trip to Australia (She's there now)! We got back to the house and fell asleep talking in the living room. Saturday morning, I woke up to this.....

and was reminded why I love this house so much. I had to work so I scooted off to the gym, leaving Joy by herself to deal with my dogs and helping Lauren & Beth set up the baby shower. They got to the beach house around 10 or 10:30 and when I showed up close to 1:00pm, the house looked amazing and all the little details of my boy's first baby shower were enough to make David say "Awwww." He wasn't there for the shower but did see them later. It was a bow-tie themed shower and it was so precious. They had bow ties on all the mason jars for drinks, garland with onesies that had bow ties on them, a bow tie cake, to-go goodies and more.

When present time rolled around, I wasn't really sure what to do with myself. Do I pass the gifts around (I mean, Desitin is something you have to see up close).....do I get up and personally hug each person at the moment?? Either way, Liza helped me just roll with it by handing me gifts to open and sometimes getting in on the action herself. It is so much fun seeing it through a kid's eyes anyways, that having her help was great. I got a lot of great things and got to spend time with a lot of good friends and family.

L to R: Bekah Wallace, Elizabeth Vinson, Katie Lomax, Shannon O'Dea, Suzanne Griffin, Yours Truly, Lauren Heuber, Joy Doner and Jackson (totally uninterested in the camera).

Same picture here except Suz took the camera so my mom could get in the picture. Also at the shower were Soo Soo, Jen, Liza & Julia. It was such a nice afternoon. After the shower, Lauren, Beth, Joy and I went to Market Commons to poke around then came back to the beach house to get ready for dinner at Aspen Grille. David and my mom joined us and as usual, AG did not disappoint. We ordered a lot of appetizers and either got salad or soup to accompany it or a glass of wine (not me) to wash it down. It was delish.

I can't thank Klug & Beth enough (Lauren & Elizabeth for those that aren't familiar with my quick name change.....writing the latter is almost harder than me saying it) for their time and energy that they put into this precious baby shower. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful people around me and soon to be around this baby. Can't wait for Lil Fort to meet these gals!

Thankful Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T17:28:00.001-05:00

Another holiday has come and gone! I cannot believe the year is almost over! This Thanksgiving was special, as is every Thanksgiving where everyone can get together. I'm quite proud of the fact that David and I power through and see as many people as possible over the holidays. It might not always be this easy, but it will always be important to me. So, we'll try as hard as we can, even when we have the lil' nugget. Wednesday night, we were home so we took a rare opportunity to go out to eat (b/c we practiced that morning) and we went to eat sushi. Yes, prego police, I was careful but I did indulge in one of my favorite foods with pregnancy safe stuff inside the roll. It was delish to say the least. I honestly cannot wait to eat the Spicy Tuna Salad from Filet's when I'm allowed.....my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Thursday, we got up and hit the road for Clinton. We ate lunch at Ann's house and Granddaddy was able to join us. It was so nice seeing him WALK (with Cody helping) through the door. He sat down and visited with everyone and ate like he hasn't eaten in months. After lunch, he had to "digest" and undo his belt and the button on his pants. HA! You never know how many more of these moments there will be so I cherished every minute I got to see him.

Granddaddy & Ann

Granddaddy, Dad, Jimmy & Gary....Andy is the only son missing!

nom nom

Love this big family & this certainly isn't all of them

"Digesting"

Granddaddy and a pregnant Becca

David and I left Ann's around 3p and went straight to Soo Soo's house for round 2. It was also fun and delicious and special in itself. Soo Soo, Jen, Curry, Liza, Margaret, Janet, Lee (Curry's parents), David and I had dinner together. My parents were going to join us but left Clinton a lot later than expected. They joined us after dinner and everyone enjoyed watching the girls play so well with each other, stay up past their bedtime, manhandle a smart phone, and keep us on our toes and laughing. We left there a little while after dinner and dessert and enjoyed a relatively low key night....stuffed to the gills with food and full of love that only family can provide.

Margaret & Liza

Liza working my droid better than I can

Liza took the camera and this pic of Jen & Curry is great!

As is this one of Mom & Janet

The girls playing in a doll stroller

Friday, Mom, Dad and I tootled around the house and town. We don't get into the Black Friday shopping craziness, so we decorated for Christmas, got some things organized in the boy's room and David did yard work. We DID venture out once to check out some mattresses at the new Mattress Firm in town and pick up a couple groceries. Thankfully it wasn't too bad at Walmart and we got in and out with no issues. Friday night, Dad went to Clinton to stay with Granddaddy and Mom, David & I drove down to Alex & Becky's condo in Myrtle Beach. We hung out with them (A,B, Nic, Karina, Paul, Kileigh & Macy) until the girls got back from the "hot pool" and were ready for bed. Starving at this point, we decided to order pizza on the way home and call it a night. Saturday, David hunted again while Mom and I braved a sliver of what Myrtle Beach has to offer by way of shopping. We hit up Sears, Old Navy, Target, Walmart & McAlisters Deli for lunch. We had to get back to Little River by 2pm because we were doing the Steve Fort side of the family Thanksgiving at 3:30pm. We got to Steve & Julia's house and enjoyed great company all night and some amazing food. Some pork, beans, slaw, collards, and too many desserts to name.....needless to say, we were nearly in a food coma again. Around 5pm, more folks came over for the annual NMB Flotilla. The boats were fun and the kids enjoyed all the lights, Santa appearances and yelling back and forth with the boats. The Cameron crowd joined us and Kileigh, being experienced on the boat, seemed concerned that people were standing on the boats and she couldn't see the life jackets on some of the Santa's. Liza yelled "Merry Christmas" and hooted and hollered at every boat. Eli got into the action as well while Ean got passed from one person to another. Dad came back from Clinton and joined us for the festivities and took little cat-naps every chance he could get. I'm sure one effort to nap on the dock swing turned into entertainment when all the little girls joined him on the swing. Bekah, Shane & friend Russ came also and it was nice to catch up with them (& Shane's sweater). When Bekah & Shane decided to go to Poo's to find Russ a woman, we took it to the house.

How cute is she?

Chillin in Aunt Becca's sunglasses

Liza being silly

Liza, Margaret & Ean....a glimpse of things to come when our Lil' Fort comes along!

Mags & Bop playing

Dinner is served

Curry, David & Dave staying close to the pig

Eating a rainbow cupcake

Liza & Victoria joined Dad on the swing....so much for the nap

Now Margaret & Rachael joined them!

Sunset over NMB Bridge

A little later with the sunset

Night shot of the same bridge

Alex, Becky, Nic, Karina & Kileigh

Julia & Ean

The Wallace's....Love that sweater...hahaha.

The Fort's & Raynor's

Sunday, David and I caught up on things around the house and are sitting here now thinking it feels like it should be 9:30 and it's only 6:30p. Gah....either we are old or we've been busy and it's catching up with us.....OR it could be because I'm pregnant. Either way, it might be an early night in the Fort House. So thankful for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

South In Yo Mouth - 2011

2011-11-21T14:17:00.001-05:00

The 11th Annual South In Yo Mouth pig pickin is in the books and although attendance was a little different this year, the fun, food and friends didn't disappoint. David and I got to Raleigh on Friday around 7pm and enjoyed pizza with JD, Joel, Lance & Katie. Lindsey (JD's better half) came home later because her brother and his wife had a baby that night! SO much going on in the Howard/Moorefield houses this weekend!

The boys started cooking the pig with David's new pig cooker (he and Rifton built it) and it was so nice! They actually got to sleep a little this night because they weren't afraid of the temperature dropping or getting out of control and starting a fire. The pig (which turned out to be one body & two heads) cooked to perfection and was ready for the tailgating fun that Saturday offered. The girls hung out inside and caught up on life and stayed up way later than any of us are used to. Saturday we hung out at the house while the guys went to the game to get set up. After naps, the girls joined them and the party ensued. There was also a football game, which I didn't pay much attention to, but I hear that NC State beat the pants of of Clemson. Katie and I used two of our four tickets during the second half to use the bathroom because the porto-johns were THAT nasty and being pregnant makes using one that much harder. So, I was in the stadium for 5 whole minutes. The game was fun....watching the kiddos was great.....and the fact that our house was IN BED (if not already asleep) by 9pm Saturday night. Ridiculous. Good times and already looking forward to next year when there are A LOT more babies in the picture.

What's Shakin....

2011-11-16T12:53:00.001-05:00

Not too much shakin in the Fort household these days.....other than my ever-growing belly....or the "nesting" that seems to have kicked into a different gear. I'm not focusing solely on the nursery, but in every other part of the house I'm trying to organize, label and make what has always been easy, just a little easier. Weird. Instead of boring you with words, I'll post some recent pictures that I've either taken on my phone or my camera.....so excuse the quality. Sometimes the camera on your phone and the ability to email/text/post it immediately get the best of me.

First, of all, the above picture was taken yesterday when I was working at my computer. I had the door open to allow the dogs to go in and out as they please. Jackson was out for a while and came up and so proudly dropped this little squirrel right there. He was SO PROUD and wanted me to be so happy for his find. All I could say was, "No, no, no, no Jackson". I didn't quite know what to do but knew I had to get a picture of his proud moment before I discarded the poor animal.

So, my crafty moments over the last two weeks consisted of making Maddie a new dog bed and totally destroying an almost-finished-homemade ornament wreath. The dog bed idea came when I was home (Southern Pines) the last time and since my parents put another couch in the TV room and thankfully the dogs aren't allowed on it, I took them an extra dog bed that we had. It happens to be a bed that is sort of small for them to share, so one of the dogs gets the shaft. I decided to try my hand at making Maddie her own special girly dog bed and it turned out cute! Not sure how long the "M" will last as she is a "scraper" and rubs her paws along the bed to make the perfect nest for herself. She really enjoys this bed and since it's still here in my house, she's gotten used to going to it instead of the larger bed that she and Jackson normally share.

The ornament wreath was a pure tragedy. I worked for a couple hours on this and really liked where it was going. I had probably 30 more minutes of work left to do. It had become rather cumbersome to work with so I was going to hang it on the hanger present in the picture. Fumbling with securing the wreath to the hanger and the hanger to a hook.....the whole project came crashing down at my feet. I stood there a good minute trying to figure out if it was real or a dream. Unfortunately, the next 30 minutes devoted to sweeping, vacuuming and making sure shards of ornaments were thrown away made me realize that yes, it did in fact happen. I'll give that project another try once I've forgotten how annoying it was to clean this mess up.

MY BELLY:

26 weeks

26 weeks front view.....my belly button is half way in half way out....the body is weird.

THE NURSERY:

This was Lib's chair (David's grandma) that we had recovered....it rocks, swivels and is just plain comfy.

This dresser used to be black and I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (Thanks Bekah!) to repaint it....handles are from Anthropologie. The top of the dresser will be a changing table but is now currently home to random objects (animals, boats) and fabric.

These are two of my choices for a light pendant that I found either at a consignment store or on clearance. David's next project is to take down the ceiling fan and replace it with one of these.

Twin bed that was Soo Soo's bed as a child (I think). The anchor is wire and was a recent purchase from Pottery Barn on clearance. That isn't the anchor's final resting place and I will eventually have a mattress in the twin bed.....thinking of setting it up more as a day bed.

Other than all that, work is fine. It wears me out, but that is okay. We have our first meet in a month and I'm hoping that my next two doc appointments go well enough that I'll be able to travel to the first meet. All levels EXCEPT 9 & 10 will be competing at our home gym. But, because of my pregnancy, we decided to try and get our "team trip" done before it was too late for me to travel. So we found a meet in the Bahamas (Atlantis). I've booked the flights, hotels, transportation and am looking into the fun, non-gymnastics activities we can partake in.

I'm also on the hunt for a place to rent for the Cooper River Bridge Run. I know I'll have a little one by then and it's crazy for me to think that I'll actually run this year (I've never run it because of other events or meets going on).....but I do plan on being down in Charleston that weekend. I've found some cool places and am hoping to put down a deposit on one of them soon. Two places are downtown and the third is an ocean front house on Sulllivans.....oh the choices!

This weekend we are heading to Raleigh for the annual South In Yo Mouth Pig Pickin.....it happens to coincide with the NCSU/Clemson game.....I'm not real sure I'll even make it into the game. But stranger things have happened. Either way, if you are in raleigh and want some outstanding pig, stop by the "red deck"....it's in Stadium East, at the pine tree line....and near the port-o-johns.....which is where all foul mouths and drinking liquor straight out of the bottles should occur.

Oh, and we had pictures taken this past Sunday....so fun. Fuller Royal, from Whiteville spent Sunday afternoon with us and the dogs at Soo Soo's house. We spent all of our time near the barn, ponds or along the fence line. At the end, we did get into the soybean fields. They are fun mixture of maternity pics and the four of us, before we become five. The dogs had a ball....Maddie lasted all of about 5 pictures before running and diving into the pond, swimming around for nothing and coming back......so most pictures, she is wet, but that is our little Maddie! Jackson loved it but paid for all the rompin' around the next day when his hip was a little sore. Poor fella......

Thanksgiving is next week and I cannot believe it. Time flies. We will be around the beach with the exception of the probable trip to Clinton for lunch on Thursday. We all have a lot to be thankful for and although we shouldn't concentrate our thankfulness to just one week a year, it is nice to have a reason to get together with those you love and share in the gratitude. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because there is nothing else attached.....family, food, football, and fun.....sounds great to me.

Family & Football

2011-11-06T22:30:00.003-05:00

This weekend I trucked it back to the Pines Friday night....mainly to avoid having to drive straight to Raleigh Saturday morning by myself since David and I were going separate to the game. I got to hang out with mom Friday night and sleep in a little bit Saturday morning before grabbing breakfast at Mac's and hitting the road to Raleigh. I met David and we consolidated vehicles to head to Carter Finley for the UNC v. NCSU football game. The game was less than desirable for me and more than David could have asked for. Gotta love the divided house! Thankfully we hung out with another couple who were quite divided....so I wasn't the only odd ball in the crowd. UNC didn't play well and it was a bummer.....but we had a good time and it was nice to use the tickets that we pay for every year, but rarely get to use. After the game, David started heading towards Ohio to hunt all week and I scooted back to Southern Pines to meet my parents, and my mom's cousins for dinner. I haven't seen Rose or Jane in a LONG time and we had so much fun catching up. Of course we went to Vito's because that is just what you do when you want to go out to eat. It was as good as ever! Jane (daughter) brought Rose (mother) to town for a reunion and made time to see family and friends while in town. We laughed, told stories, looked at pictures, and just really enjoyed each other's company. Sunday I woke up at the crack of dawn (literally) with the time change and hung out in Southern Pines until dinner. The dogs and I drove back to the beach Sunday night, narrowly missing a deer standing in the middle of the road and catching up with Scott.....an old college friend that I haven't talked to in 10+ years. Great ending to a great weekend! Back to the grind tomorrow.....

Two divided houses....

Ellen & Courtney sandwich....an NC State gymnast and a future NC State gymnast....love these girls!

Me, Jane, Mom, Rose & Dad

In baby news....this kid loves a football game. Maybe he was pulling hard for the heels and just bouncing around the entire game or maybe he was dancing to the incredibly loud music playing in the stadium, but it was an active afternoon for the little guy. I'll be 25 weeks along tomorrow.....I took the glucose test last week and hopefully all is well with that. The nursery is coming along and the crib should be in soon. I'm on the hunt for a twin mattress/boxspring to replace the bigger bed that was once in that room. Darn small rooms. So if anyone knows a place to get a good deal on one (I'm not trying to get anything fancy at all), let me know! The name game is still just that. My dad has thrown out some incredibly interesting names that will likely not be used but I do appreciate him trying to be helpful in this process. David and I like a lot of the same names, but narrowing down what we want to be permanent is a difficult decision. I'm sure we'll come up with something soon though! Stay tuned....

Halloweeeeeen

2011-11-04T10:34:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the late post but when you are 31 and don't have kids (yet), Halloween isn't as exciting as it used to be/will soon be. However, this year, Bekah & Shane decided to have a little Halloween party where you had to dress up. Although I haven't dressed up since my days on Franklin Street (which is such a great place to spend Halloween), I went ALL OUT for this year's festivities. And by all out, I mean I stumbled upon a DOG'S costume at Target the day before Halloween that looked like it would cover my baby bump just perfectly. And it did. So I went as a pumpkin and David went as a fighter pilot in authentic gear from his dad. Yes, his dad was a pilot and has the coolest stuff......MUCH cooler than the dog pumpkin I attempted to be.

We all brought a dish to eat and spent a couple hours hanging out, admiring costumes, taking pictures and giving out candy to the kids that came by. Nothing is more fun than pictures when adults are dressed up, so I'll leave the rest to pictures:

Fighter Pilot, a recovering addict from AL and Superman

Bruce in Bekah's lingerie

Kelly & Whitney

Wonder Woman & her Superman

David found his match at the party!

Kelly holding on tight to the sock monkey

"I do not....."

Top Gun Kelly & the sock monkey

One mediocre attempt at a group shot

What Becca's costume was actually intended for.....

and another good fit

Sixty Trips Around the Sun

2011-10-30T22:13:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to my wonderful momma!! Mom, Sally, Sal, Sassy, Mama Raynor.....whatever you like to call her.....she turned 60 today. We went home yesterday after I got off of work and met a crowd at Ashten's to celebrate mom's birthday. Matt, Carly & the boys came....along with Becky, Patti, Anne, Wiley, Anne, Bob, Paul, Julie, Jane & Scott. We had a nice dinner then hopped across the street to visit Justin & Ryan who were playing O'Donnells that night. We chatted for a while, caught up with the band and Ricky & Sherilyn and David and I walked home around 10pm.....actually before the band ever started....which is a first for me. But it was nice to be there early to actually talk to them.

Sunday we ate breakfast with mom and dad (on mom's actual birthday) then packed up the dogs and drove to Clinton to visit Granddaddy Raynor. Delores was there and my great aunt Doris and Uncle Joe came in shortly after we got there. We spent about an hour hanging out with Granddaddy, although he couldn't get very comfortable and tossed and turned the entire time. He did turn over one time and said, "Well, hey Rebecca." SO I know he knows I was there.....he may not remember it later, but he knew who I was and that was nice. He finally fell asleep and we snuck out and made our way back to the beach. Whirlwind weekend but oh so worth it!

Happy Birthday Mom! Lots of love!

Cam running around the house

Macy & Kileigh stopped by before dinner

Grey was thirsty after wearing Papa out at Ashtens

Mom's birthday gang minus the Matt Raynor Family

David noticed the humor in this picture at the bar, so I snapped it. Justin's type.

Love catching up with this crazy-haired boy.

Carolina On My Mind

2011-10-21T11:30:00.001-04:00

This past weekend, David and I packed up the dogs and rolled off to Southern Pines en route to Winston Salem. An old college buddy and very good friend, Jeff Beaudin was getting married and we wouldn't have missed it for the world. It was such a fun reunion of sorts and in talking to some of the guys, we realized that although our day to day lives have changed quite a bit since college (jobs, families, etc), when we get together, it feels eerily similar to those days at ATO, SigEp, He's Not Here, Shelton Street, Macauley Street or Dixie Lane.

The wedding itself was at Old Salem in a meadow near the Tavern. It was perfect weather and everyone looked great. The reception was held at the Millenium Center in downtown W-S, which used to be an old post office. They have done a great job refurbishing the building while keeping the old/vintage feel. It was decorated beautifully with fall decor and the party inside went on for hours. Truly, at midnight, they were kicking us out to the front steps. Of course, given our crowd, we all sat around the front steps deciding on the next move of the night. For this old pregnany lady, it was back to the hotel room....my feet were about to fall off from all the dancing I'd already done and well, "going to get ONE MORE beer" just wasn't in my vocabulary this weekend. Needless to say, I woke up feeling quite chipper while most of my friends thought they'd been attacked by a hammer to the head.

Anyone that knows this crowd knows that it's almost impossible to NOT have a good time so that was a given. But here are some highlights of the weekend:

* Clef Hangers singing at the cocktail hour and during dinner....those boys look 12 but were amazing!

* The entire bridal party getting "iced" and taking a knee in a shame to drink their smirnoff

* The bandanas that the Hickory crowd busted out...most of the room ended up with them on....some people are probably not very happy with EVERY picture that the professional photog took of them in their not-always-cute bandana.

*Mindy trying to teach David how to dance and "pop" his hips (I think that was the word)

*Spinning the gourd in the middle of the dance floor to pick the next person in the middle of the circle. I conveniently went and grabbed my camera during this game.

*The insane amounts of dancing that I'm sure made people sore the next day

*The worm at the end of the night.....again, I'm sure there was unexplained bruising the next morning from this.

*The old school music videos playing on the big screen....Em especially loved Usher and I especially loved watching everyone trying to "shuffle" with LMFAO.

Em was trying to get a picture with Usher on the screen and Jake did something stupid.

*The "morning after" conversations with those that partied a little more than they'd planned on....

*"Mom's Gone Wild"

I hope that we can always find a reason to get together with this crowd. It is a type of fun that is hard to recreate after you get out of college. However, EVERY TIME we get together, it goes down in the record books. Love them all.

On Sunday, David and I went to Emily's parents house in Clemmons to see the kiddos. Considering our early bedtime of 1am and the Given's much later bed time, we spent most of our time at the parents house WITHOUT Greg and Em. They came dragging in, sans Emily's phone, around 11am. Their kids are growing up SO fast and are SO cute and fun. Nate is as sweet and smart as can be and Abby sure is a pistol. Sweet and sassy rolled into one cute little girl. I hope they have the best time living in Tuscaloosa and I'm staking claim on a road trip next year for a football game.

When we got back to Southern Pines, we walked to the Ice Cream Parlor with mom for lunch and to wait on dad to get out of a church meeting. Andrea Grieve and Lily happened to be in town so they came to the house and met us after lunch. Matt, Carly, Grey and Cam also came down for the afternoon and we had the best time. We all walked down to the park and let the kids play until there was sand in places that sand shouldn't be. Lily is a mover and a shaker and although she doesn't like sand, she is afraid of NOTHING. She was climbing, swinging and sliding all over everything. Grey and Cam LOVE slides and found a super fast one that shot them out of the bottom straight into someone's arms. So cute. Matt treated us to dinner that night at Mellow Mushroom and we got back on the road to head home. We left a car in Whiteville so we decided to park there for the night since David was working there the next morning. The dogs LOVE Soo Soo's house, mainly because there is no fence containing them and deer are EVERYWHERE. Needless to say, at 3am, the dogs just had to go outside (we don't cave on them normally but Maddie's stomach was making some seriously weird noises). David took them out and seemed like they were gone for a while.....So I got up to check.....dear Jackson and his bad hip had run off.....thankfully he wasn't trailing anything but just exploring at 3am. Dork.

Other than a little stomach bug/eating something bad this week, things are going well. Tuesday was really rough for me, but I'm much better now. At 5.5 months pregnant, I am beginning to really feel pregnant and starting to look it. I have a little bump that I've noticed for weeks but is starting to show to others now. Joy.

Back to the Blogger

2011-10-19T14:26:00.001-04:00

Good things rarely last and IWeb on my Mac is one of those things. I read somewhere in all the Apple/Mac stuff that IWeb was biting the dust when ICloud is introduced. There may be an option for a blog through my mac still, but why learn a program when blogspot is just peachy? So I'm back and although I'm not 100% back to this blog only, it won't be long before I am. Just need to get some things backed up on the old blog before shutting it down. My MobileMe picture site is also waving a white flag and I'm going to try to put pictures on Flickr and Facebook unless I find a better place for them. Of course they are all still on my hard drive so when Mobile Me quits working, I'll still be hanging on to my memories. I'll post the latest "Fort Happenings" soon but for now, here's a picture of me and my snuggle-buddies.

We rode around the farm stuffed into the Rhino one Sunday. Dogs loved it....

Blog on the Mac

2010-04-01T10:46:00.001-04:00

I realized that the link on here went to the wrong blog. I'm loving the new blog although I don't update it a lot! Hope you will too-

http://web.me.com/becunc02/Site/Home.html

Picture gallery: http://gallery.me.com/becunc02

Still easier....

2009-09-07T18:51:00.002-04:00

The new blog is still easier than this one!!! I updated it today with the weekend's festivities. Check it out by clicking the title....be sure to save the new blog in your favorites. ALSO, for those who love to see pictures......all of my recent pictures will be on on the following website (it is only available to those that have access to the site):

http://gallery.me.com/becunc02

You can download/upload these pictures to your computer. Enjoy!!

New Blog for kicks!

2009-08-31T09:35:00.001-04:00

Since I have a Mac, I've decided to use it as it was meant to be used. It can do all this stuff for me and synch right up with my photos, music, documents, etc. So i'm trying out a new blog for a couple of months before deciding which one I'll stick with. Check it out and let me know if its as easy to follow as it is to use.....

http://web.me.com/becunc02/Lifes_A_Beach/Blog/Blog.html

I won't let the other one go b/c its got my journaling on it from our trip and a year's worth of updates but this new one is SO easy.

Fort Beach Fest

2009-08-17T09:15:00.005-04:00

This past weekend, David and I went down to Granny's beach house in Myrtle Beach and invited some friends to join us. With the short notice and the busy times of summer, only a few couples stayed but we filled the weekend with laughter, relaxation, playing like kids, cooking and soaking up some rays. Friday night, David and myself, along with Brian Shelburne, Liz, and Lance Lomax grilled out steaks, vegetables, baked potatoes, etc. Everyone stayed up late talking and coming up with ways to save the world. Saturday, Lance fixed an unbelievably good breakfast of eggs, sausage and biscuits and the rest of the day was full of pool time and subsequently pool games, laying out, the beach, reading, etc. My folks, along with Alex, Becky, Karina & Kileigh came by and hung out at the beach with us for a while. It was fun watching Kileigh take in all the sand, water, etc. She is not the biggest fan of the water just yet....but knowing her family, she will have no choice but to learn how to enjoy it. :) Saturday the party expanded to Katie Lomax, Stephanie & Sid Miller and Mary & Brent Wheatley. We had planned on going to Aspen Grill (Curry & Jen's restaurant) but after laying out all day, no one really wanted to go in and "get ready". So the guys went to the store and picked up some burgers and dogs and we grilled out once again. We had the best time hanging out with everyone. Some of the guys (and Liz) stayed up late talking but most of the girls (and Lance) shut it down by midnight. On Sunday, we did more of the same....hung out at the pool, watched tv, talked, read, etc. Around 6pm that night, we had cleaned everything up, packed up and drove down to PF Chang's to eat dinner with Sid & Stephanie. It was a great weekend and we are so blessed to have great friends to spend time with. I wish that everyone could have been there the whole weekend but there will be more opportunities to do that! All the pictures are on my facebook page, but i'll post a few of the good ones.....next weekend, Louie, Janice, David and I head to Atlantic City to see Jimmy Buffett and hang out back stage....David and I don't know how we are getting there yet (i'm a slacker) but we'll be there for sure! I'll blog about that when we get back.....

As for everything else in the Fort household- Jackson & Maddie still run the house and are doing fine. The other 5 dogs are chillin' at the farm and enjoying their time outside of the kennels. I should go visit them soon b/c I haven't seen them in a while.

Where does the time go?

2009-08-11T18:52:00.004-04:00

I am having a hard time keeping up with this blog and for all the faithful readers, I apologize. Hopefully all 2 of you will forgive me. My last post was about New Orleans, moving Matt & Carly and meeting Grey. After I left NOLA, I drove up to Birmingham, AL for Andy Penuel's wedding. He married Lauren Holdefer of Tuscaloosa and it was quite a fun wedding! They got married at The Sonnet House and it was a beautiful place. It stormed like crazy so the original plan of having an outside wedding was nixed. In record time, they had a chapel-type building (maybe the old stables that have been completely renovated?) set up and ready for the guests. Lauren's dress was BEAUTIFUL and Andy looked awesome in his tux. Louie was a groomsman and he, too, looked nice all gussied up. The reception was fun and decorating the car was quite entertaining. The happy couple spent the following week in Gulf Shores, AL and plan on going on a cruise around December.

To see all the pics from Birmingham, click below:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=291630&id=505590701&l=4ec70aacb5

After getting back from B'ham, which included a pedal to the metal drive from B'ham to Charlotte....grabbing a quick dinner with Matt, Carly & Grey and making my way on back to the beach, I was GLAD to be home. The next week was the daily grind at work but this past weekend was something special indeed. Shane Wallace called us Friday to see if we would be interested in taking a boat ride from Little River to Murrells Inlet on Saturday...spending the night and making our way back on the ICW on Sunday. After coming up with NO reasons to NOT do it, we were in. We met Shane and Bekah on Saturday at Poo's, boarded our "ship" and headed south. There is something so primitive and undeniably cool about traveling by boat. Anywhoo....we made it to MI and Lindsay picked us up to go get ready for Britt's cook out. We grilled burgers and dogs and hung out at Britt's house before making our way to Pawleys Island Tavern and later to the Hot Fish Club. Good times had by all and a nice, relaxing boat ride back to Little River on Sunday. Weekends like that truly make me love living at the beach!

To see pics of the boat trip, click below:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=291651&id=505590701&l=4f54b82603

Leaving New Orleans

2009-07-31T23:22:00.003-04:00

I'm sitting in a hotel in Birmingham, AL for Andy Penuel's wedding tomorrow night and am reflecting (and uploading pictures) of the past couple days. I drove to Charlotte Tuesday night and stayed with Joy for the night. She was gracious enough to drive me to the airport EARLY Wednesday morning to catch a flight to New Orleans. I was heading to New Orleans (along with mom, dad and Denise & Tom Akulis) to help Matt & Carly move to NC. When everyone finally got there Wednesday night, we spent the next couple of days moving furniture and boxes into a huge Penske truck. We were easily distracted by Grey, who is tiny and precious. He had a tough couple of days because his tummy hurt, but all of us thoroughly enjoyed being around him. Carly & Matt were excited to get packed up and moved out of their townhouse in New Orleans and we successfully finished everything up this morning. Matt & Carly went to closing (yay!) and the rest of us stayed back to finalize everything. I will miss our tie to NOLA but will love having Matt, Carly & Grey only a few hours away in Chapel Hill. I didn't get many pictures OTHER than Grey so enjoy.....I'll post on Andy's wedding when I get back to NC/SC.

Summer Sundays

2009-07-26T21:41:00.004-04:00

David and I have started a little Sunday tradition (okay, so maybe its not a tradition just yet, but give us time).....We've been heading down to the beach house in Myrtle to hang by the pool, soak up the summer sun, walk on the beach, etc. Jen, Curry, Liza, & Margaret joined us today....as did Soo Soo, Lee & Janet. Its nice to have a place we can all meet and hang out.....Liza continues to entertain us and Margaret is cute as can be. My favorite line of the whole day was when I was lying in the pool on a float and Liza asked me (in 2-year old form), "Is that your bra and panties?" We all got a big kick out of that and love the lack of inhibitions of a toddler. We tried to teach her how to say "bikini" and it came out "Beccakini". She is also really good at pointing out when you happen to have a beer.....she makes a point to say that Beer is for Big People and then points out who all the big people are that can have beer. Really a cute kid! As for Margaret....she just laid on Jen's legs and made faces, ate, slept, and just got cuter and cuter. Anyways, its kind of laid back - do your own thing - Sunday but that is why we love it! Its so nice having family close by!

Hopefully these Sundays will continue!

Margaret Alexandra Martin

2009-07-24T17:05:00.002-04:00

Margaret Alexandra Martin was born at 12:21pm on 7/23/09. She weighed in at 8lbs 8oz. and was 20 inches long. She has a THICK head of black hair and is precious. Jennifer is doing great and they are coming home today! We went to the hospital (now that they live in MB) to visit and see Margaret and I was amazed at how great Jen looked! Liza was thrilled to have a "real baby" and wanted to see her in the nursery. She'll have plenty of time to play with Baby Margaret now! Here are a couple pics!

Harrison Grey Raynor

2009-07-16T20:06:00.004-04:00

Matt & Carly welcomed their baby boy into the world on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 4:39 cst. Harrison Grey Raynor was 5lb 7oz and 19.75 inches long. He is a little thing but is so precious in pictures. I cannot wait to meet him in person and will get to do that in a couple weeks! "Grey" as he will be known, is going to be a loved little nugget! The Matt Raynor clan is moving to Chapel Hill in August and their new home is close to being completely built. It is so exciting to know that they will be SO close (comparitively speaking) and I can watch Grey grow up and watch Matt & Carly be wonderful parents. These are my new favorite pictures......

In this picture, he's already taking after Shelton...trying to bend his ears forward to hear better. Hopefully he'll have better hearing than his Grandfather currently does.

Cheesin'!!!

The Happenings.....

2009-07-09T22:49:00.002-04:00

I've been out of touch for a while and it seems like I can't catch up with life! I guess I'll start by announcing the birth of BABY BOY RAYNOR today at 4:39pm Central Time. Matt & Carly have a new son and I could not be more excited! I don't think they have 100% decided on a name but there are a couple in the works. He weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs 7 oz and 19.75 inches long. Carly delivered a week early because the baby wasn't growing like the docs wanted it to. As far as I know, baby and mom are doing well. I can't wait to meet the lil man!

I'm currently sitting in a really nice townhouse in Orlando, FL. I just got here today with 3 of the girls from the gym and will be here until Tuesday. They are working out at a college recruiting camp and I brought them here so I, too, could learn what the ropes are for getting a scholarship or competing college gymnastics these days. So far, everyone is having fun but the first workout is tomorrow, so we'll see!

The link below is pictures from July 4th.....Mom & Dad came to town and we (me & david, mom & dad) went down to the Dunes Club to hang with the Magenbauers, Martins, Woodards and Soo Soo. We decorated golf carts for the neighborhood golf cart parade and went to an amazing cook out hosted by The Dunes Club. We saw some of the greatest fireworks I've ever seen and I was so upset that my camera battery died right at sunset. : ( We had a great time nonetheless and we are grateful to have family so close to us now.

This week (prior to Orlando) and the remainder of next week, I'm busy with gymnastics camp at our gym. Its so much fun to have so many kids in town for it and especially to have so many of my coaching friends in town. We all really get along great and are able to learn so much from each other in the gym. I'll be glad to rest after it is over with and I'm sure david will be glad to see me for more than 20 minutes a night.

David is heading to Oklahoma on Saturday to meet with a consultant. He and his dad are flying out there and going to soak up all the information they can.

Summer is flying by and I will do my best to keep the blog updated on more activities going on with The Fort's. Life's a Beach!

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
http://www1.snapfish.com/fbshareredirect/p=28691247194145693/l=1889166017/g=9279622/redirectURL=share/otsi=SALBBL/AlbumID=926955017/a=9279622_9279622/usercomments=I_xqd%20like%20to%20share%20my%20Snapfish%20photos%20with%20you.%20Once%20you%20have%20checked%20out%20my%20photos%20you%20can%20order%20prints%20and%20upload%20your%20own%20photos%20to%20share./counttext=91%20photos/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

Playing Catch Up....

2009-06-24T17:06:00.006-04:00

I haven't blogged in a while and have done a lot since then! After our week off from the gym, I had to get back into the swing of things with our new summer schedule. Its nice because we work Monday night and Tuesday - Friday mornings. Typically I'm done a little after lunch but sometimes I stick around and do administrative/team work until mid-afternoon. Either way, its a nice change for me to get home before 5pm 4 days a week. Last Wednesday, David and I drove to Raleigh and spent the night with Billy & Meredith so we could catch an early flight to New Orleans on Thursday. We got to Nola early on Thursday and walked around the French Quarter waiting on our hotel room to be ready. We had a great time in New Orleans and came home Monday night. We went to watch my brother graduate from his residency at Tulane University. My parents rode in Winford Williams' RV and got to NO Thursday night. We stayed at the same hotel we took the gymnasts to last year. Its one block from Jackson Square and two blocks from Bourbon Street. Its a cool place and the prices are VERY reasonable. The majority of the long weekend revolved around food which was awesome.....eating is a hobby of mine. Thursday lunch, we went to the Gumbo Shop and had red beans and rice, shrimp creole, jambalaya and crawfish ettouffe. So good! For dinner we went to a great mexican restaurant on Magazine St. that Matt & Carly go to. Friday, Matt & Carly both had to work, so the rest of us walked around (again!) and went to the WWII museum, ate lunch at Margaritaville, relaxed and Mom, Dad and I went to see Harry & Nell Leveque who live in the French Quarter and have done so for YEARS. They are Linda Gralton's parents and I coached Linda's 2 girls, Katie & Sarah. They are such nice people and their house is really neat. Later, we met Matt, Carly, Carly's sister Jackie and their parents at Dante's Kitchen. Dante's is on River Rd. on the levee and is SOOOO good....most likely the #1 place Matt & Carly will miss when they leave Nola. Saturday, Winford, Mom, Dad, David and I took the Natchez River boat tour and enjoyed our time on the water. This was after eating breakfast at Johnny's Po Boys and walking around shopping (again). After the tour everyone went to their respective sleeping places and got ready for the big night (graduation). Graduation was held at the rooftop of the Windsor Court hotel and it was a nice dinner and cocktail hour ALL for Matt! It was really neat to listen to a couple hours of speakers all talk about Matt and his accomplishments as resident and chief resident of the Tulane Urology Dept. One of his fellow residents made the comment that Matt has probably done more surgeries than any other urology resident in the country this past year. He will be missed by all he worked with and that is no surprise to me however, we will be glad to get he, Carly & Lil' Raynor closer to us. It was also special to recognize him as the last graduate of the Katrina residents. Matt was in his first year of residency when Hurricane Katrina hit and since he was on call, he spent the better part of 4 days trying to get the patients out of both Tulane and Charity hospitals. When the helicopter picked up the doctors on that particular Thursday, he had none of his belongings and was dropped off in Lafayette, LA. Another resident that WASN'T on call and had evacuated to Houston actually drove to Lafayette and picked them up. They drove to St. Louis and matt caught a plane to NC. He truly had NOTHING from his house and was displaced for 19 months. He worked at UNC, still as a Tulane resident and when Tulane got back up and running, his boss in New Orleans asked him to return. After hearing the speeches Saturday night and the opportunities being at Tulane has given him in terms of experience, I'm glad he went back for his final two years. Saturday night David and I went to Bourbon Street and stood on the balcony of Bourbon St. Blues (The Gralton's uncle own that). It was packed but certainly not Mardi Gras packed and we saw some characters as always! We ended our night with some jazz at Maison Bourbon. Sunday was spent hanging out with everyone....David and I had some beignets and we eventually met up with Carly & Matt at Chartres House Cafe for lunch (see, lots of eating)! Everyone decided to go back to Matt & Carly's house and relax after that but David and I were quite antsy to do an activity. We decided that an airboat ride through the bayou would suit us just fine. After haggling with the owner, she gave us a deal and we spent and hour and a half on the muddy waters of Louisiana. I got to ride on the top seat of the boat and only scared myself twice on the whole trip. We got to hold a baby gator (well, 9 months old) and a Gator egg. The guys that were with us were funny....I swear they haven't seen a woman in years. The captain would get off the boat to take pictures and one of the guys said "Make sure you get the hot girl in the picture." Like I wasn't there. Dude. But he was funny nonetheless. The captain of the boat (interestingly enough) was on ABC's Wife Swap. He swapped wives with a family in California who are ballerinas (?) or something like that. He's mighty funny as well. After getting off the airboat, we picked up Winford from his RV (he needed a rest day) and we went to dinner at Zea Brewery near Matt's house. We got up early to catch our flight Monday morning and made our way back to the beach Monday night. It was really nice to be with everyone for Matt's graduation and it was certainly a special ceremony. Their plans are to move to Chapel Hill and work for UNC Hospitals....Matt in the Urology Dept and Carly as a CRNA. She will be on maternity leave until November as she is due to have that baby 7/17!!! Click on the title of the blog to see ALL my pictures......

Such a good week....

2009-06-10T21:22:00.005-04:00

So I've been in Southern Pines since Monday and have LOVED it. I have wanted to spend more than one night here for quite some time and with the gym being closed this week, I finally got to!! I have had the best week filled with good food, good shopping, good (long) walks downtown, a good dentist appointment and above all else, GREAT friends and family. I got home on Monday and we just sat around the house and watched TV, ate dinner, etc. Later that night (like at 10ish) we took the dogs on a long walk through town. Tuesday, mom and I both had dentist appointments in Robbins, so that took up part of the morning. We met Julie for lunch at Sweet Basil in downtown SP and I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around to the precious shops that I love dearly in SP. We met a big group at Vito's for dinner (YUM)......It was Julie (again!), Alison (& Lil'Man), Becky, Alex, Karina, Kileigh, Herb, Patti and Chris for a short while. We left there and went to see Alison's house and nursery which was SO cute. All of it. I love her colors, what she did in the nursery and her taste in decorating. I also think Ilir has done a great job with her yard, etc. Wednesday, after our daily morning walk of 2 miles, I left for Chapel Hill/Durham to meet Jake, Page & Ford Fehling, along with Jeff Beaudin for lunch at Mellow Mushroom. Jake works for USA Baseball and his office is in the Durham Bulls Park area, so we went to eat at the American Tobacco district.....cool place. Lunch with those guys was awesome.....we had a good time catching up, laughing, watching Ford and grubbin. I poked around Chapel Hill for a while before heading on back to the Pines. Did some shopping, walking up and down Franklin Street and of course, stopped by The Loop for a sweet tea. On the way to AND from Chapel Hill, I stopped by Matt & Carly's house to check out the progress. On my way UP, they were beginning to put on siding on one side of the house. On the way home, they were done with one side and working on another. I also snuck in the house to get pictures. It's coming along nicely and hopefully the progress will continue smoothly. Tonight (Wednesday), my parents always go to El Vaquero and meet some friends for dinner and tonight was nothing different! We walked downtown to EV and met up with Becky, Alex, Karina, Kileigh, Anne & Bob Ryder, Anne & Wiley Fields, Jane & Scott Newton. After that, we took the dogs on (another) 2 mile walk through town. I'll be heading out sometime tomorrow although I think I could stay longer......there is something very special about this town to me and everytime I'm here, its never for as long as I want. But, the beach is a pretty cool place to live as well and I need to head back there and get ready for company this weekend and a Dixie Lane Reunion on Sunday. I'm sooooo excited about that! A few pictures for your soul.....

The waitress who took the above picture said, "It's perfect!" after taking it.....really???? We aren't crouched over a stroller for nothing!!!

Kileigh Turns 1

2009-05-28T09:34:00.004-04:00

Last weekend I went to Southern Pines for sweet little Kileigh's first birthday party. Karina and company did a great job planning a fun afternoon for all the kids, including Kileigh. There was lots of food, drinks, toys, presents, desserts, etc and I think everyone was worn out after it was over. Kileigh got lots of cute presents from all of her friends and I got lots of cute pictures of her. A couple of my favorites below but click the title to see the whole album on snapfish.

Our little fern dove

2009-05-17T18:35:00.004-04:00

So I bought 6 ferns a while ago (4 to hang) and I'm seeing how long I can make them last.....I'm kind of into plants and flowers these days and we have a great front porch to have hanging plants. I walked out of the front door one day and a bird popped out of one of the ferns (and scared me to pieces). Several days later I noticed a nest.....and today I got some pictures......its a dove's nest.....I hope taking pictures didn't scare it away for too long!

Miracle Picture

2009-05-17T07:07:00.004-04:00

No one will quite understand how hard this picture was to take.....it took 4 people, and about 15 minutes and this was the ONLY decent picture that came of it:

Back Row L to R: Jackson, Maddie, Bec, Kali, Reba, David & Hank

Front Two L to R: Ginger (Grandma) & Sally (Mom)

My Baby

2009-05-14T09:24:00.004-04:00

Kali, the newest puppy, is doing great and I thought I'd share some funny stories and pictures from the last two weeks. First of all, the crate training (which I fully believe in) is working. She is understanding that the bathroom is outside for her. It's still a lot of work for us because she doesn't have the bladder capacity that Jax & Maddie have but she is able to stay in the crate without being let out for a good while (4-5 hours). According to articles I've read, that is outstanding for a dog her age (9 weeks). She is starting to understand commands (or so I think...maybe its a coincidence) but "hurry up" and "here" seem to grab her attention. Occasionally she will run in circles around the house (when we let her play out of the crate) and then stop suddenly and bark at us. Just one, high pitch bark, as if to say.....PLAY WITH ME NOW. She is a good retriever but doesn't always bring the sock/toy/ball right back to you. Again, who would expect that from a 9-week old? She had her first bath on Tuesday and did great. She is so adorable and sweet but now that she is more comfortable in our house, she doesn't really like to be held and cuddled....she is more into exploring and finding trouble. Speaking of exploring.....she got out of the fence yesterday! Her skinny butt can fit through the pickets in the fence and she made her way out. When I figured it out and got myself out of the fence, that Einstein of a dog was waiting for me at the FRONT DOOR. I love smart pups. Anyways, she's great and she loves visitors so if you are in the area, come meet her. I promise you will fall in love with her little face!

Nothing Like a Mom

2009-05-13T18:11:00.006-04:00

With Mother's Day almost a week in the past, I wanted to reflect on the fact that most mom's are awesome. First of all, my mom is wonderful. That's a given! But I wanted to use this blog to point out the new mom's in the world and how great i think they are.......These smiles show how great they are!

Lauren & Hadley....this was right after we got back from KS

Liza Martin learning how to brush her teeth

Karina & Kileigh last Thanksgiving

Em & Nate in Nashville

Lily Andrea Grieve....Kalispell, MT

Jackie & Noah

Page & Ford Fehling

Ruby Red Slippers & Sore Legs

2009-05-13T07:57:00.004-04:00

This past weekend we hopped on a plane to Wichita, Kansas for a good friend's wedding. David Glover & Ashley Shroyer met in DC several years ago. Glover (as we call him) is from NC & went to UNC. We have a great group of friends from UNC and most of our closest friends flew out to KS to see him get married. Ashley is from Kansas and the entire weekend was loosely based on the rivalry between Kansas & UNC. It was great! We (me and my david) flew in Friday and barely made it in time to go to the rehearsal dinner. Thankfully Emily & Greg, who rented a car, waited on us to get changed. The RD was nice....at Wichita Country Club with good food, drinks, toasts, videos and a darn good MC. :) Someone in the wedding party had a grand idea to run a 10K the morning of the wedding and the bride and groom were totally up for it. They (Team Dashley) encouraged us to do it and 33 of us got up and ran it like champs. Some of the guys did really well, finishing up near the front but most of us accomplished a lot just by finishing!!! I had a great running partner in Emily and if it hadn't been for her, I don't know that I would have finished it like I did. We did stop a couple times to walk in order to get rid cramps, etc, but she figured we ran 90% of it. I've never run more than 3 miles at a time so I was completely pumped about it. David also finished it before I did and I was so proud of him! He hates running....its amazing what a man's pride and a little competition can do. :)

We all were wearing shirts that said "Worst Idea Ever" on the front and "Best Idea Ever" with a picture of a UNC Ram & a Jayhawk getting married, on the back. So many runners pointed out our shirts and said how cool they were. It was also fun to see each other as we were running.....made it easy to point each other out and cheer each other on! The wedding itself was held at Botanica Saturday night. We had lots of time between the race and the wedding to eat, rest, shop, etc.....most people just rested. I think Klug found resting to be for wussy's so she and Talley entertained themselves with scarves for what sounded like hours. The wedding was beautiful...all of it was outside and Ashley did an amazing job with the decor, colors, set up, etc. I took tons of pictures and thoroughly enjoyed being there to watch Glove get married. Ashley was wearing the cutest red shoes with her beautiful wedding dress and Glove wore a turquoise-y tie with a black tux. the bridesmaids dress color matched Glove's tie and the groomsmen's ties matched Ashley's shoes. It was really pretty. There were tears, laughter, cocktails, hugs, kisses and more

......it was a great reunion of our college friends and I look forward to many more reunions as the years go by.......

**Click on the title to see pictures**

Kali(Spell) Fort

2009-04-27T22:43:00.003-04:00

We are insane and we know it. BUT, we got another dog. She is a German Shorthaired Pointer and is SOOOOO cute. Our two favorite places on our trip out west were Kalispell, MT and Jackson, WY. Obviously, we have a Jackson (although he was named that long before we went to Jackson), but Kalispell, MT was another awesome spot. It could be because Andrea & BJ (and now Lily) live there but it was really a great town. SO, we decided to name this little girl KALI. Her full name is Kali-Spell Fort but from here on out, she'll just be Kali. She is energetic, precious and sweet as can be. So far, Jackson & Maddie are having fun with her!

Up In Flames

2009-04-27T22:11:00.004-04:00

Myrtle Beach was on fire for a few days and yesterday, as we were driving back into town from Atlanta, we couldn't SEE any fire or smoke but we sure could smell it. It was awful! The fire burned around 20,000 acres and many homes. Our gymnasts and staff who live in Barefoot Resort all faired relatively well. Some of them told us their stories today and it is a blessing that they have anything left! Tori, our boys coach and his wife Candace got out of their house when they couldn't see anything but black smoke and fire creeping up to their house. There are 6 houses on their cul-de-sac and 4 of them are completely GONE. Tori's truck is completely burnt, their air conditioner unit burned as well as some of their siding. The fire did not penetrate into the house so all of their stuff is fine. The other families did have a smokey smell in their house and one family in particular got out as one side of their house was burning. That side was the only part that burned before it jumped somewhere else. The damage was erratic and I'm so thankful that our families did not lose all......unfortunately, some local families did. Keep our town in your thoughts......everything on the beach is normal. Jackson, Maddie & I walked on the beach today and it was as beautiful as I've ever seen it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JCckSQKloM

This video (above) was taken from the Marina Inn at Grande Dunes.....CRAZY!

Tori's neighbor

Tori's Truck....they said it was 4 feet to the left of this when they left.

The side of Tori & Candace's house

A friend of a friend's house ......this page was found in the rubble along with diamond earrings, an amethyst, etc.

Busy Bee & A possible new addition

2009-04-21T21:25:00.004-04:00

Planes, Trains, Automobiles & Gymnastics. Story of my life right now. We compete from December to May and although April is MUCH closer to the END of the season, it feels like we travel way more than in the beginning. I just got back from Nashville, TN where we had Level 9 & 10 Regionals. We had a good time....flew in Thursday and flew home Monday. The girls did well, but no one qualified to Nationals. We were disappointed by that, but we will move on and work harder for next year. We did have girls place on several events and considering it was the best kids in the 8 southeast states, we were proud of that. While in Nashville I got to see Em, Greg & Nate the Great as well as Justin & Ryan Harris. We ate dinner with the Harris boys (or met them out) every night we were there and I thank both of them for toting us around anytime we needed it. When Greg & Em picked me up for breakfast they took me to this GREAT and popular place called The Pancake Pantry. We saw Taylor Swift and Nate thoroughly entertained me while I got to catch up with Em & Greg.

That night Louie, Ryan and myself went to Macaroni Grill where Justin was working. Ryan also works there but had the night off. We ate TONS of great food on the employee discount and went to Dave & Busters to grab a drink with Emily (Justin's girlfriend....not Em Givens). Saturday we were in the gym most of the day but we did go downtown for a very short while that night to celebrate Justin's B-day (the big 2-9). We couldn't stay out long b/c we had an 8am session the next day but the crowd celebrated like it was 1999 without us. The stories we heard the next day were classic but I'll leave that your imagination to save face. Sunday we had two more sessions at the gym. While Justin recovered, Ryan came to the meet to watch our last girl, Hannah. He stayed for the most of the meet (which I was very grateful for) and then he took us to Chili's where Justin & Emily were waiting on us. We had a nice dinner and got dropped off back at the hotel to catch an early flight out the next day. It was so wonderful to see all the Nashville dwellers......old friends really are the best friends.

I'm recovering from that trip and will leave on Thursday heading to Atlanta for the weekend. We have level 7 & 8 Regionals in Atlanta and hopefully our girls will do AWESOME. The following week, we will head to Panama City Beach, FL for Prep Opt Regionals. The week after that, David & I are going to Wichita, KS for David Glover & Ashley Shroyer's wedding. SO excited about that but the 10k is a bad idea.....but it will be fun.....I think. So, yes, busy bees I (we) are, BUT.....

On to the POSSIBLE new addition. No, I'm not preggo. We went today to look at puppies! A friend of David has German Shorthairs for sale and they are PRECIOUS. Seriously, so cute. They are VERY well fed (borderline chunky bellies) but so attentive, un-afraid and just plain cute. We haven't decided for sure if we are getting one (or two) but I'm all for it. They are 7-weeks old so it will be some hard work for the next little while, but that is okay. They are great. Now, I'm sure most of you think we are crazy but David really does have a good set up out at the farm so what's one (or two) more dogs?? :)

Birthday Weekend!

2009-04-08T14:11:00.004-04:00

My birthday weekend was busy but fun! We started out on Friday by heading to Lake Waccamaw for the monthly Supper Club. Sarah & Coke Gray hosted us at the Gray Cottage on Lake Waccamaw. Its a beautiful old house big enough for the Gray Family (which is huge) so it was easy to entertain and feed the 13 of us. It was great seeing everyone and catching up on life. Saturday, David and I went out to the farm (after a brief stop into the gym....funny how on my days off, I still want to go in). We played with the dogs and I went for a bike ride around the farm with Jackson & Maddie. They ran more than they had in a LONG time so they were pretty pooped when we got back to the pack-house. David wanted to "work" with Reba & Hank on hunting, obeying verbal commands, etc and he needed my help. So we took them out (one at a time) and David released some quail from a recall pen he has out in the woods. Both Reba & Hank pointed one good time. David shot his pistol to give them the sounds they would normally hear and Reba did well. Hank must be a little gun shy b/c he went crazy! BUT, they both did pretty good. They have a lot to learn but they have the attention span of a toddler, so we couldn't do it very long. After the farm, we came back to the house and got ready for an early dinner at Collector's Cafe in Myrtle Beach. It is a great restaurant and where went before getting engaged. We were there at 6pm and there was literally ONE other person in the entire place. We wanted to be finished in time to watch the Carolina game. We left Collector's and went to Todd's house to watch the game. Todd was way more entertaining than the game but the Heels won and that is all that matters. Sunday, I woke up and met Louie & Laura to head to Columbia for the Prep Opt State Meet (last one!). The girls did AWESOME and won first as a team. We had 5 girls in the all around title and many individual event titles. Even more impressive was the Regional Team. This year, at the state meet, the top six in each level (regardless of age) will go on to Regionals and represent SC. We had 4 in the top 6! We also have a 9 year old who is the 2nd alternate (she was 8th). It was awesome! So that summed up my birthday weekend. We got home really late from Columbia (like 2am) and we had to work Monday afternoon but we are so proud of the girls. I got sick Monday night (but managed to stay up and watch B-ball.....Go Heels!) and Monkey made me a cheesecake that we shared among those at the gym. I stayed on the couch ALL DAY Tuesday, never got out of my pajamas and slept. My back hurts now from laying on the couch so long, but it did me a world of good. I feel better today (although I can't really breathe). Anyways, thanks for the birthday cards, thoughts, calls, texts, emails, messages, etc. I felt so loved!

A coach's life....

2009-03-31T11:41:00.005-04:00

Lots of people (friends included) don't quite grasp the joy that comes with being a coach, being with kids and teenagers every single day and traveling to random places (some better than others) A LOT. I thought I would take the opportunity to point out why I love this so much at this point in my life.....

1. The girls are hilarious.
2. I have the opportunity to watch them grow up right before my eyes and possibly have an impact on them.
3. I get to see improvements every single day....whether its gymnastics, school, or life in general
4. I see a side of them that most of their friends don't even see
5. I get to help shape their future....either by helping them do gymnastics in college or by teaching them basic fundamentals of life that they will find themselves using on a regular basis as adults.
6. I get to be a role model of sorts for some of the girls and a shoulder they can always lean on no matter what is bothering them.
7. I get just as nervous as they do before competition and like I tell them, it shows that I care about them and what they are doing
8. I see a little bit of myself in every girl.
9. I get to share my passion for gymnastics.
10. I get to share my passion for being a good person and how being committed to gymnastics (or any other sport) helps shape that.
11. I get to travel to little po-dunk towns and big cities (or countries!) almost every other weekend from January to May.
12. The girls get to travel to the same places and what a wonderful experience that is as a child.

This weekend the Level 5's - 10's competed in their state meet. This is the biggest meet of the year for the Level 5's and a stepping stone to Regionals and Nationals for the other levels. Our girls did AWESOME. In all, I think we came home with 92 medals. 22 of those were gold medals! Our Level 10's also won 1st place as a team. Now, to let everyone know before they find out on their own.....the Level 10's didn't have any other teams to compete against. It takes 3 people to make a team and we are the ONLY gym in the state that could manage to put a Level 10 team together. I will also add that not only do we have 3, but we have 6 level 10's. And they are all teenagers, which makes the committment even harder. We are so proud of their dedication, perserverance and of course their committment to the sport at this very high level. There are a total of 18 level 10's in the state of SC and we have 6 of them on one team.

Level 5 - Cassey, ME, CC (Cecilia)

Level 5 - Angel, Savanah, China, Aneesah

Level 7 - Winning 3rd place as a team

Levels 9 & 10 - Waiting for awards to begin

Level 8 - Olivia, Marla, Ana

Our gold medalist from this weekend are as follows:
China James (Level 5) Vault Champion (8.975)
Marci Hogue (Level 7) Vault Champion (9.525)
Hannah McKinney (Level 7) Floor Champion (9.450)
Brittany Smith (Level 7) All Around Champion (37.100)
Casey Pyatte (Level 7) Vault Champion (9.450), Floor Champion (9.350), All Around Champion (36.175)
Madison Knight (Level 7) Beam Champion (9.350)
Marla Thomas (Level 8) Beam Champion (9.225) All Around Champion (36.025)
Olivia McKinney (Level 8) Beam Champion (9.250) All Around Champion (36.875)
Faith Burns (Level 9) Beam Champion (8.925)
Nicki Bindewald (Level 10) Vault Champion (9.375), Bars Champion (9.300), Floor Champion (9.400), All Around Champion (36.725)
Gilly Hogue (Level 10) Beam Champion (9.425) Floor Champion (9.275) All Around Champion (36.325)
Breanna Gawron (Level 10) Beam Champion (9.275)
Courtney Turner (Level 10) Beam Champion (9.025)

We have 14 gymnasts moving on to Regionals this year.....
Level 7 - Brittany Smith, Hannah McKinney & Madison Knight
Level 8 - Olivia McKinney (regional team), Marla Thomas & Ana Smith
Level 9 - Faith Burns & Brianna Graves (Monkey)
Level 10 - Nicki Bindewald, Gilly Hogue, Courtney Turner, Breanna (Breezie) Gawron, Emily Fisher & Hannah Owens

Level 9 & 10 Regionals will be in Nashville, TN April 16-19
Level 7 & 8 Regionals will be in Atlanta April 24-26

Wish the girls lots of luck! The Level 9's & 10's have the opportunity to qualify to nationals at their regional competition.

Fit for a Queen

2009-03-31T08:41:00.003-04:00

The Queen City, that is. This past weekend, the gym girls had their state meet in Rock Hill, SC.....so of course, I made my way to Charlotte to see my neice, Liza, Jennifer & Soo Soo. I left gym Friday and drove into Charlotte (I would like to insert here how incredibly frustrating the Monroe - Matthews drive on 74 is!). Anyways, Liza is growing up fast and is SO smart. I had fun hanging out with them, catching up and watching Liza entertain us. Shortly after Liza went to bed, I drove down to Rock Hill because we had a FULL two days of competition.

After the competition on Sunday, I had made arrangements to spend another night in the Charlotte area and went over to Beth's house. Joy also went over there to watch the Carolina game and they grilled out and waited for me to get there (God bless them, they didn't have to wait!). I was SO ready to get there and relax and catch up with the girls and Beth's parents. We had a great time eating with everyone (Joy, Beth, Michael, Tom, Karen & Aunt Mag) and they even had an ice cream cake with "Happy Birthday Becca" on it for dessert! I was so suprised but it was SO good. And one more thanks for Michael for the "last minute" pick up. :) We chatted for a while before everyone heading off to bed (they had to work really early the next morning while I slept in). I was pleasantly suprised in the middle of the night by Mya (Beth's dog) opening my door and joining me in my bed. She is so sweet and such a little cuddler. I was even more suprised when I woke up and went to the bathroom and Beth was home! She was in workshops all day and the second one got canceled so we got to do breakfast together! It was a long drive home (partly because I was tired, but also b/c its just long) but I was so happy to get to see Joy & Beth (and family) while I was in the area. Hopefully they will take me up on my offer to visit me at the beach this spring/summer!

Oooh, Oooh, Pick ME!

2009-03-25T14:30:00.002-04:00

And I did....Maddie has been BEGGING to get her haircut ever since Jackson's high and tight military shave. She was a little jealous of the quality time Jackson and I had for those hours I was trimming his bod. SO, today, I picked her. We drove out to the farm to take the pups their treats and I managed to cut Maddie's hair out there. She looks precious as always and MUCH better than Jackson. I used a 7F blade instead of the 10F and it worked way better. She was a good little girl for the most part except when trying to trim her toes and when I got a little too close to her womanhood. No harm with my trusty "professional" clippers but she doesn't like the buzzing noise, especially when I get near sensitive areas. BUT, she did great and although she looks like a baby, she's precious. Oh the things we do to save some pennies. Can you imagine if we had children......"come on now, lil fort.....sit really still while I try to shave around your ear." Funny thing is, that wouldn't be too far out of the question.....and if you don't believe ME, ask Matt about Dad cutting his hair. His ear was never the same......

What a man....

2009-03-22T21:51:00.007-04:00

I have to take a moment to brag on how wonderful David is. It isn't often that I tell him but he mentioned today how he has earned lots of "husband points" this weekend. I laughed at him for saying it (as usual), but in all honesty, he really did take his weekend and did whatever I wanted him to. I already mentioned the Comedy Cabana which was lots of fun.....Louie, Janice, Danny, Sue, Bobby & Steven Warbutton, Bobby's girlfriend Tara, Suki and his wife came out with us. Our buddy Charlie and his girlfriend Alicia also met us out there and luckily there was room to add them to our reservation so we could all sit together. Good times. Saturday we woke up and hit the farm. After that, we came back and I was really wanting to ride to Charleston to ask some major questions to the Apple guru's about purchasing a MacBook. Of course we could have called but I need little/no reason to drive to Charleston and love every second of it. So we did! We stayed downtown about an hour then came on back to the beach. On the way back, we would pull off on any side road to just to see where it would lead. We learned a lot about what is off of Hwy 17 between Charleston and Georgetown. We found the OLD Episcopal Church that Lindsay W and Britt stumbled across (with the ridiculously old tombstone...ie...1700's).

So we were walking around the church grounds (which is spooky in itself) and I decided to see if we could get IN the church. I pulled on the latch on the door and the dang thing opened. I wish I could have taken a picture of David's face when the door started creaking open. Priceless. So we went in the church (a couple feet in the church) before deciding that was really creepy.

We didn't get to do any of the state parks/plantations b/c they were all closed but that is in the works for our next trip to Charleston. We drove on up to Myrtle to eat dinner at Liberty Taproom and came home to crash. Result of the trip.....I want a MacBook. Perhaps the Birthday Fairy will deliver. :) So, many thanks to David for entertaining my desire to go to charleston and using a new computer as the excuse. AND for not complaining when I took every interesting turn OFF the highway on our way back home. A 2 hour trip turned into 4. Nice.

So now it is Sunday and let me run through this day for you. Slept late, ate breakfast and I decided that since I could see dog hair on our now-carpet-less steps, that I needed to clean. So i pulled out the swiffer to take care of the now-wooden steps (yes, we removed the carpet from the stairs) and started swiffering away in places that our vacuum can't get to (under the bed, etc). No sooner than I got done with the steps, David had pulled out the big vacuum and started vacuuming all that I wasn't doing! What a man! Then we parted and I ran errands (stories from that later) and he went to the farm. When I got back home he had brought the trailer home (like I hinted we needed to do) to clean out the flower beds in front of the house. SO we raked, piled and dumped TONS of old leaves, weeds, dirt, the occasional dog poop, etc into the trailer so we could get started on having a decent looking yard (I must insert here that I REALLY want Julie James to come over and give me a clue). Then we started on project that turned out to be MUCH harder than I thought. This is where the "other stories" comes in......

So on my errands, I decided that the dogs needed to be groomed (ie- CUT). Everytime I go to Petsmart to get them cut and washed, it cost me over $100. Yeah, makes you sick, huh? Well, since I'm slightly OCD and really don't like a dirty house, the sight of dog hair makes my skin crawl. Why I have a dog (or 6), I don't know, but seriously, the shedding and hair makes me crazy. So what better way to cut down on the hair? Cut the damn hair! However, today, I didn't have the dogs with me so I bought CLIPPERS. Yes, I was going to take on the daunting task of cutting my own dog's hair. All I can say is POOR JACKSON. He was such a trooper and let me tell you.....I sucked. And I will never take for granted what a professional groomer does. Jackson looks okay now (from far away) but I was beginning to think that we were going to be making a trip to Petsmart tomorrow morning for them to make my dog look somewhat normal. David was actually better at it than I was (crazy I know). He wasn't uncomfortable with the clippers and could get a smoother finish. Me, on the other hand, VERY uncomfortable using clippers and therefore left Jackson looking like a mountain range on a textured map. He has SO much hair and its very thick....so when we were cleaning up the shop, I realized that I had dog hair in places that I didn't even know existed on me! Needless to say, the clippers are a work in progress and Maddie's haircut will happen at a later date. Enjoy the pics and just know that this was a first for us and all in all, it ain't that bad! Atleast Jackson is a dog and can handle the embarrassment....I'm totally blaming the bad haircut on his groomer when someone asks me what happened to him....."His groomer must have been hungover or something..." Hehehe. I told David I was going to buy him (Jax) some clothes and David said no. However, if I shaved David's head like I shaved my dogs, David would surely be wearing a hat....all the time. Anyways, laugh it up and have a good time....just know that hair grows back (that thought is the only reason I slept last night). Toodles.....

Three girls & a boy.....a BIG boy

2009-03-22T21:37:00.004-04:00

So I haven't been around very much (or doing anything too terribly interesting) to blog about but this weekend, I finally got to go see my precious dogs. Yes, I used to refer to them as puppies and although they still act very much like puppies, they have GROWN so much and Hank is a BIG BOY. I had the luxury of having the weekend off this weekend and David didn't have major plans either! So after a fun night out Friday night with the gym crowd (we went to Comedy Cabana to see Josh Blue...won Last Comic Standing), David and I woke up Saturday and took the dogs to the farm. We took Maddie & Jackson with us so they could run around but most of our time was spent with the hunting dogs. The reason I say 'three girls and a boy' in the title is because Steve's dogs (Hank & Reba's mom and grandma, Sally & Ginger) are currently being housed at the farm with Hank & Reba. SO, there were three girls and a boy to catch up with, love on and feed before leaving. David has done a great job working with the puppies and I can see them starting to really love being obedient. When he whistles, they come to him (most of the time), when he says "Sit", Reba sits....hank, not so much. I really wanted to get a picture with all 6 dogs and us but that was virtually impossible. Getting Hank & Reba to sit still longer than 5 seconds was a feat. At any rate, here are some pics of the growing pups.......

Time Passed with Amazing Grace

2009-02-26T11:00:00.005-05:00

This past weekend, I took advantage of having a free day and drove up to Clinton, NC to visit some family. My cousin, Tommy & his family (I think he's gone to Tom as an adult, but that just doesn't roll off my tongue when I see him), were in NC for three weeks and I finally got to see them. Tommy lived in Okinawa, Japan for 8 years and more recently in San Angelo, TX for 3-4 years. His wife Kozue, son Kaine and daughter Maya will live in Okinawa for another 3-4 years before coming back to the states. It was a great time catching up with them, really meeting their kids and hanging out with them and also getting to see Ann, Ray, Granddaddy and my parents. David was sick so he didn't join me but he was missed. Travel plans to Okinawa are in the works over the next 3 years so if anyone is up for a long trip, let me know! Also, I was very pleased to watch Maya (who is 21 months), climb, bend, jump, flip and fall all over the place without a teardrop. She is so flexible and strong and will make a great gymnast!! Time flies and I know we'll see them again before too long but I appreciate the opportunity to spend time with anyone in my family who I don't get to see very often. Until next time.....

Quail Hunt

2009-02-21T22:53:00.003-05:00

Saturday we went to the farm to work Sally & Ginger (Steve's hunting dogs) and see Hank & Reba. The puppies have grown so much!! They are as cute as ever though! Enjoy the pictures by clicking on the title!

Becca & Talley take on Charleston.....

2009-02-11T10:10:00.002-05:00

And all we really got was a lot of pictures of Hadley Tate....sore hips from all our walks....belly-aching laughs at Talley's old emails.....desperate searches for Prunchetta.....political and religious conversations amongst 3 girls drinking wine, one of which works in politics.....good talks to catch up on three totally different lives....poopy diapers.....middle-of-the-night wake up cries.....great food.....catching up with Laura Hart and her new life in Charleston.....watching Lauren entertain Hadley and being so happy that Hadley is constantly amused by her mother.....and the list goes on. One & a half days in Charleston is never enough but this trip was well worth it. I always love going there and seeing Klug & Hads, but to catch Talley and Laura Hart made it even more special. Not to mention the fact that although we've known each other 10 years and we are 4-5 years removed from our college days, we can reconnect like no time has passed. Good friendships are a lovely thing......So, par for the course, I took a lot of pictures, but mainly of Hadley....So I condensed them into a collage.

Snow....for the second time!

2009-02-04T12:00:00.003-05:00

It snowed again this morning and for the life of me, I can't remember the last time it snowed twice in one winter at the beach. The first snow (a few weeks ago) was definitely bigger with more accumulation but this morning we had huge snowflakes that stuck to our decks and our yard. I think David used all the milk this morning so I decided to venture out for a bagel and a coffee and packed up the dogs for the ride. On the way to eat, they told me they wanted to stop by the beach to see if the snow was sticking on the sand and perhaps play in it. Lucky for them I packed the leashes and we made our way to Cherry Grove Inlet. Jackson & Maddie (our only 4-legged residents at this point) had a ball playing in the sand (not much snow on the shore) and came home with a light layer of sand all over them. It was FREEZING out on the beach as the wind was whipping like crazy. It took a while for my buns to thaw out. During the first snow the little puppies were still here but for this one they were out at their palace at the farm. David built them great dog houses (with 2 rooms!) so they were (hopefully) curled up in their houses and toasty for today's snowfall. Jackson & Maddie are loving the new puppy accomodations mainly because they get their house and yard back. Things around here are pretty normal for us. I'm gone every other weekend for meets and David is here and there with work and play. He went to Arkansas two weeks ago and had a great time with Curry (bro in law) and some of Curry's friends. On my weekends off, I tend to get involved in projects and my most recent project includes re-doing a bedroom. I painted the walls and replaced the bedding and had fun doing it. I also went to a class at Pottery Barn and got a discount on everything for the day and came home with some great pillows, pillow covers and lampshades. It adds some color and a needed update to our living room. I guess my life really isn't that exciting since I'm talking about lampshades and pillow covers but no news is good news in my life......

Before I get to posting pictures, I wanted to touch on Louie's (my boss) newest dream....and I wouldn't mind being a part of it.....its this property in the Bahamas that is for sale. It appraised over 1 million dollars but because the seller is very anxious to get rid of it, he's selling it for $800K (give or take). Its in the Abacos and on Lubbers Quarters. It looks awesome and we want to go visit it. We found a youtube video of ANOTHER property on Lubbers Quarters and these folks probably did exactly what Louie dreams of doing (living on the island, fixing up the accomodations and renting it out to vacationers).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwq3h1RD2fk

Check it out....and while its 30 degrees outside, imagine waking up to this....

okay, now for the pictures....enjoy!

The Odd Couple

2009-01-19T12:24:00.001-05:00

This is one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. yes, I'm an animal lover but we should all learn from this.......
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Growing like weeds....

2009-01-16T10:14:00.006-05:00

Oh how times are a-changin'! This post was originally to update all the faithful readers on the "puppies" that are soon to lose that title. HOWEVER, upon signing in to dear old Blogger, I noticed Carly and Matt (sis-in-law & brother) updated their page with the exciting news that they are having a BOY in July. Carly went for her 14-week appointment and sure enough, the little guy was cooperative and showed his stuff for a nearly certain assumption that it is in fact a boy. That excites me beyond belief because A. I knew they wanted and were trying to have a boy and B. this will be a very entertaining 6 more months of the name game. Truly, these two aren't even in the same solar system when it comes to boys names. Perhaps its the blood relation or perhaps its the simple fact that matt and i have remained good friends through sibling-hood, but we are typically on the same page with baby names. We talked about names we did and didn't like for as long as I can remember. Family names are always great and Matt has had a strange liking for typical "western" names.(I use 'strange' because he's not very western...aka - wyatt). Now that its the "real thing" and he's discussing potential names with his wife and mother of his child, its probably a lot harder than when you are 24-28 and talking about it with your sister. Recently when I ask about any common names, I get a response of "uh, no." I can only imagine how exciting it would be to find out that you are having a boy only to sit down and list 100 names of which neither can agree on. I will love anything they pick and can't wait to get to know the little nugget regardless of what his name is! AND, it should be noted that regardless of what his legal name will be, I'm sure he'll generate a nickname or two before its all said and done. I'm thinking Peanut or Catfish.....Catfish Raynor. That doesn't have a bad ring, does it? Anyways, we are so excited and cannot wait for them to live in Chapel Hill so I can see the whole family more often!

So now I will get back to MY babies...Hank & Reba. They are 4.5 months old and continue to grow, much to my dismay. There is something ridiculously cute about little puppies and although these dogs take the cake on being cute, they are getting bigger. Therefore, the cute puppy antics are not quite as easy to deal with (ie- jumping up). I got a nice paw-in-the-face yesterday when Hank wanted to give me a hug. The nature of these dogs is so wonderful and they are so loving and playful, but they haven't mastered the obedience training just yet. They are getting better at "Here," "Sit," and "Kennel" though. Anyways, I got a new lense for my camera from Santa Claus and decided to play with it using the dogs as subjects. Click on the title of the post to link to the album on picasa but a couple of shots for instant gratification are below.

Life is good in Mexico

2009-01-07T11:40:00.015-05:00

We just returned from our annual Team Gymnastics trip and this year we chose Cancun, Mexico. It was quite a good choice considering we had perfect weather, great activities, ocean front condos for $100 per night and wonderful people to travel with. I organized this trip and all the stress that went into that was worth it. The girls had a great time, as did our staff and parents that joined us. We ended up taking 13 of our optional team girls ranging in age from 11-17. There were three coaches (Louie, Sue and me), Janice, Mary Ann, Ricky, Jackie & Ryan. When we flew in to Cancun we immediately put on our bathing suits and walked to find a place to eat. There are so many all-inclusives that we ended up at this local fish hut (literally a hut) that definitely doesnt have any kind of sanitation inspection. I'm not saying it was dirty, but it was authentic. The food was amazing, however.

After that we went back to the hotel and down to the beach. The water was pretty rough and there was actually someone who drowned the week before b/c of a rip current. We fully explained how to get out of a rip tide to the girls and anytime they wanted to go in the ocean, they had to be with an adult. We stayed out as long as we could stand (it got chilly in the water when the sun went down) and made our way back up the rooms and my roof-top terrace for pizza. Some of the adults braved the unknown bus system (which turned out to be amazing) and went to the store. A few people ventured all the way out to Walmart but Mary Ann and I were not interested due to time and wanting to get back to feed the kids pizza.

We bought plenty of breakfast and lunch foods for the girls so we wouldn't have to go out for every meal. After dinner, the girls had free time in our section of the hotel (there were leftover NYE celebrations this night so we decided not to let the girls roam). They had to stay in groups of atleast three and luckily all of our rooms were very close to each other. Friday morning, we woke up early and met for practice. Took the bus over to the gym and worked out for a couple of hours. After that, we came back to the hotel, did the beach/pool thing again before heading back to the gym for the college competition. We got to see UNC, Michigan, Boise State and LSU compete in each of their first meets. After that we all went to Margaritaville (duh) for dinner. We got the girls on stage to teach all the waiters their Cotton-Eyed Joe dance.

We shopped a little bit after that before coming on back.

Saturday morning the coaches took the Level 7's and 8's to the meet and the upper levels girls met us there later. The Level 7's all placed on something and the Level 8's rocked by winning 1st, 2nd & 3rd all-around and the team competition.

That afternoon we did more beach/pool time before heading back to the gym for the Level 9 & 10 competition.

Everyone in those levels came home with medals as well! We were very proud of how the girls did this early in the season.

That night, the parents stayed at the hotel with the girls while the coaches/staff got a chance to go out in Cancun. We were supposed to meet some other coaches at a restaurant/bar but it ended up being closed and since no one had good cell phone service, we couldn't find them. We ended up at Senor Frogs with every other college age student there. We actually had a great time....our waiter, Ury, was awesome.

Sunday morning, we woke up and gave the girls a chance to have some free time before heading on our adventure to Selvatica (meaning "Citizen of the Jungle"). At Selvatica, our guides (who were amazing) led us on a 2-mile zip line course with about 12 different lines. Most everyone got the chance to go upside down which was a lot of fun. After that, we (us and our guides) loaded onto mountain bikes to ride to a cenote (sink hole). They had a zipline, a cliff jump and ropes to hang onto in the cenote. It was a pretty cool sight and the kids all had a good time. Poor Ana did a back tuck off the cliff and over-rotated it straight to her back. Luckily she was fine but she was not without a lot of pain for a couple days. After our time at the cenote, we biked back to Selvatica for a great lunch of chicken fajitas, beans and rice. German (pronounced Air-Mon), Alex, David, Carlos and the rest of the guides were amazing to us and made the trip to Selvatica a wonderful experience. I highly recommend it for anyone of any age.

After that, we got back to the hotel and decided to "pool-crash" the Hilton. Ana's parents were staying there, so we hopped on the bus to the Hilton. Once we got there, we had to strategically walk in the hotel in groups of 4 or 5 and make our way to the pool which was AMAZING. Not quite amazing enough to pay for 9 rooms there but amazing enough to pool-crash. It was 5-acres of connected pools and hot tubs, beach beds, hammocks, swim-up bars, etc.

We stayed there through dinner and came on back to Solymar and our condos. Once we got back, we had a Dance-Off. Each room was supposed to make up a dance (they've been working on it for a month) and that night we had a competition. We threw some kinks in the girls plan as we told them they also had to do a "blind dance" (didn't know the music) and they had to pick a solo dancer. It was extremely entertaining and Bree, Gilly & Haley's room won the grand prize. Brittany got an honorable mention for her solo dance.

On Monday, we had to go relunctantly. No one was ready to leave Cancun but after our four hour layover in the Fort Lauderdale airport, we were all ready to be back home. The experience for everyone in Cancun was great. I think we would all go back again in a heartbeat. The place we stayed (Solymar) was great for us. Michelle & Peter Hermick, who I've worked with for 6+ months live right on sight and own a few condos as well as managing a few others. They were there for us whenever we needed them and nothing was over-looked. I highly recommend them and their condos as well. It isn't right in the hustle and bustle area of Cancun which was perfect for us. It is close to everything though! All in all the trip was amazing and I'm already thinking of what to do next year.....New York, Chicago, Vegas, Hawaii anyone?