Been a little M.I.A.

Just some things going on in our lives...

My parents and Alaina came down for a weekend visit a couple of weeks ago.  We started off the weekend with a movie and root beer floats on Friday night and then Saturday, we had tons of fun going to all of our favorite knick knack shops and scoping out some new ones in the next town over.  Momma always finds good stuff down here and we make it a priority to hit these stores when she's down.  Dad and Jason played some golf with a couple of guys from Jason's school and then hit up the beach with Alaina.  Mom and I finished our shopping and came home to rest until dinner.  These trips are always so much fun, but always too short!  Several weeks before that, Ashley, Matt, and Austin were down for a week.  That was a fun week too, complete with a water balloon fight, a few visits to a local ice cream shop that has mine and Ashley's new all time FAVORITE flavor...Outrageous Oatmeal Cookie , a treasure hunt for Austin (you can see pics on Ashley's blog), and a photoshoot at the beach!  I love family visits!!!

The next weekend, I went home for a week to help take care of Momma after surgery.  Jason stayed through the holiday weekend, but had to go back as they can't miss ANY school!  Enjoyed the down time to just visit, even though it wasn't under the best circumstances.  But our God is good, and the surgery went smoothly and she did wonderfully!  We had a girls day out the Saturday before, and all got pedicures, then we went out for "brunch", did a little quick shopping, and ended the day with meeting the guys at a local car dealership and traded in my car for another Jeep!  I have missed my Jeep ever since the wreck, but thought I would be happy with the Edge.  It was a good car, but it just couldn't replace my Jeep!  I'll have to get some pics soon!

Been really diving into my new business!  Getting my website ready, promoting on facebook, ordering business cards (how exciting!), and I did 2 photoshoots this weekend.  Plus teaching myself more on photoshop!  I miss my tutor (Ash), she is soo good at this editing thing, and I've learned so much from her!  And she's all self taught :)

Our dearest friends, Brad & Ashley were down visiting this past weekend.  We had such a blast!  We don't get to spend nearly enough time with our family and friends living 3-4 hours away from all of them, so every visit is so special!  We spent all day Saturday at the beach, and while we were swimming, about 6 dolphins popped up right near us!  They were splashing and jumping around..it was TOTALLY cool!  We got a good laugh out of the fact that we all got "zebra stripe" sunburns.  Yep..we all got burned in stripes.  Apparently, spray sun protection is not very effecient when there's a breeze on the beach.  Then that night we went to a local "family style dining" restaurant.  It's decorated like a barn and is really neat, plus the food is to die for!  Sunday we took them around base since they had never seen anything like that before and they got to experience the PX.  That's always neat for someone who has never been in one.  But overall, we had lots of laughs and made lots of memories:) 

Jason graduates from MCT Instructor school tomorrow morning at 9!  I am so excited for him!  He has done wonderfully through this whole course and breezed through every test, drill, and PFT (Physical Fitness Test for those not up on military lingo!).  He will find out in the next day or two which company he will be assigned to and hopefully find out more about how his new schedule will work.  We are hoping we can get some time off in November for our family vacation and then maybe Christmas!?  I don't know...that may be pushing it, but if we can't make it home for Christmas, I think everyone will be coming here:)  Spending Christmas by ourselves would be depressing, and since we have the room to fit everyone, they may be traveling for Christmas for the first time in many years!  Thank goodness I have double ovens!

Speaking of vacation..Gatlinburg in November with the family...I CANNOT WAIT!!!  I think we are all ready for a vacation, plus all the Christmas stuff will be up at Dollywood when we go!  It's going to be so much fun!

We decided to save 60.00 by trying to shave Kojak for summer ourselves.  What I thought might be an hour job, ended up taking two hours and then another 30 minutes the next morning since it got dark on us!  He doesn't look toooo bad, lol.  He's pretty even for the most part, but we are definately not cut out to be professional groomers!  But, he is much happier without his massive fur coat!  Especially since this week, our temps have tipped the mid-90's.  Yuck!  Too hot, too humid.  Ready for fall!  I haven't been going out unless it's in the evening or I can be near water!  I am so heat intolerant:(

My birthday is in 10 days:)  I love birthdays, but this year, I have decided from here on out, I will turn 27 every year.  I'm in a bit of denial about nearing 30 (but as Ashley reminds me, Matt will always get to the milestones first!  I'm no longer the oldest kid, lol).  I don't feel like I should be almost 30 yet (I will be 28).  I still feel like high school graduation was yesterday!  I guess it only matters how you old you feel!  Somedays, I feel old due to health "issues", but most days, I still feel 18, some days 21..hehe.

We have battled mice twice now since spring.  I hate mice.  Reeeally hate mice.  These are big friggin mice..they are verging on being rats.  I hate rats even more.  Reeeally reeeally hate rats.  We live out in the country, and there are alot of farms around.  When the farmers started plowing and planting, the mice started running and intruding.  We have spent a small fortune on traps and D-Con, but the traps with peanut butter caught the most.  And that makes me want to gag because you can actually see the dead rats.  J totally had to deal with the dead ones and cleaning up after them.  Those little buggers can get in places that you would never imagine!  We had evidence behind the stove, fridge, under the dishwasher, under the sink, even in the coat closet.  We (by we, I mean Jason) cleaned and bleached and disinfected.  It just made me feel icky!  But my wonderful, smart husband found all the "entrances" and blocked them up with steel wool...so far, so good and it's been about a month and a half!  I am so thankful to have a manly man for a hubby!

Ok, well now you are pretty caught up on our last few months!  It's been busy!  I totally need to get better at posting, so when I do post, it's not a novel!  Happy Tuesday!