Changes In The Bedroom

My new bedding!

And, I moved a little furniture around because I needed a makeup table.  The lighting in my bathroom is terrible, so I am very happy with the new setup.  I can see what I'm doing, and sit down while doing my massive mop of hair:)

A Good Birthday!

Yesterday I turned 27 (for the second time!).  I felt very loved by many!  Lots of calls, cards, texts, facebook wishes, and gifts!  We celebrated my birthday last week while we were at home since I knew we wouldn't be back in for my actual birthday.  My wonderful sisters orchestrated the birthday dinner with Alaina baking me a triple layer chocolate cake, heavy on the frosting (just like I like it!), and Ash did the grocery shopping and cooking since Momma is still out of commission for a bit longer (but not much longer..yay!!!)  Daddy grilled cheeseburgers and hot dogs, and Ash called in our closest friend, also an Ashley, to help, which she gladly did!  They made the BEST homemade macaroni and cheese, and a southern fave..fried squash, to compliment the hot dogs and cheeseburgers!  It was absolutely delicious!  I wish I had some pictures, but I think they are all on Alaina's camera..by the way, you need to send those to me! 

I received some wonderful gifts that night too!  My parents and Alaina got me some Americana decorations for the house, and the cutest strawberry juice glasses!

A new flag for the entryway closet:

A new barn star (LOVE my barn stars!):

Bells that sound like wind chimes, so as soon as I get a hook, they are getting hung up on my front porch!

My sweet little juice glasses with the cutest strawberries painted on them:

I also am getting a painting from my Grandmother (Mom's side) for my kitchen.  She paints beautiful pictures with water color and I can't wait to see what it's going to look like!  Got some $$ from my other Grandma..always nice!  And my sweet friend Ashley brought me a bag full of goodies when they came down a few weekends ago..complete with lots of smelly good stuff for my house, knick-knacks, a box of my favorite sleepytime tea, a precious handmade picture frame..gosh that thing was so packed, I can't remember it all!  Oh, and an unknown gift still to come at an undisclosed time from Ashwee-Pooh..she's so mysterious, lol.  It was a wonderful night!

So yesterday being my actual birthday, started with a wake up kiss and birthday wishes from J, and my annual call from my Momma at the minute I was born:)  Followed by calls from Daddy, Ashley, and Alaina, complete with singing!  Many text messages followed as well!  Then my good friend down here (about the only good friend I have here!), took me to lunch at where else...Olive Garden!, where we sat and talked and enjoyed endless salad, bread sticks, and Zuppa Tuscana soup (my fave!), oh and of course, alfredo sauce to dip our bread sticks!  She was wonderful to take me out, as she says nobody should be alone on their birthday!  Plus she's a cake maker, so she is in the process of making me a cake!  Will post pictures when it's done!

Then we went shopping!  I love Ross' and Marshall's..see my deals!

A big floppy beach hat..with SPF 50, a double sized butter dish in RED, two new pairs of flip flops, one for 7 bucks, and one for 5!  The smaller heeled ones are replacing the exact same ones I had and ruined with paint..only pair in the whole store and in my size!  Sooo meant to be:)

Then, it was home I went to be with hubby once he got off work.  Once home, I got to open my gifts from him!  Some of which haven't arrived yet, but I will post pictures of what's coming!  The things already here:

He let me pick out new stuff for our bed..so new sheets and bed set, the New Moon Blu-ray, and the Je-taime Willow Tree figurine:)  Jason took french in high school, and ever since we dated, he often tells me he loves me in french..which is Je-taime..such a sweet man!

Things still to come!!!

An electric skillet for some big time cooking!  Especially if we host one of the holidays coming up!

A new RED KitchenAid digital toaster (ours now burns everything!):

A new 7-qt. slow cooker by the Food Network:

And, the Twilight Blu-ray, with the promise of a Twilight Saga movie night before we go see the new one in the theater:)  Love me some vampire movies!

After gifts, we ordered pizza from my favorite pizza place..Michaelangelo's, who makes the biggest New York style pizza around (and the best!).  A stop by Redbox to rent some movies.  And the night ended with cupcakes and the Happy Birthday song from J.

He made the cupcakes and they were delicious!  The letters on top stand for Happy 28th Birthday Christie:)

Singing to me:

Yum!

Blowing out my candles:

A happy girl:)

Thank you everyone!  You made my birthday so special and I love you all!

MCT Instructor School Graduation

I am so proud of my man!  He graduated his MCT Instructor training today!  He is now officially an instructor and non-deployable for 3 years:)  Some pictures from today...

Jason and Derek getting their diplomas:

With their proud wives (me and Lisa):

Jason with his Cheif Warrant Officer, and a couple of buddies from his old unit that showed up to see him graduate!  (He had a cheering section!)

Jason and Derek with their diplomas!

Congratulations Babe!  Congratulations Derek!  And yay for training being over!!!

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!

Check it Out!!!

My website is up and running!  Finally!  Go see it!

http://www.christiebellephotography.com/

Boo:(

Our little birdies hatched, and they were SO cute.  But apparently, we have a cat somewhere in the neighborhood that was hungry and found our little birds:(  When we moved the wreath, we set it up in one of our rocking chairs so that the mother wouldn't abandon them if we moved it too far away.  Not knowing we had a cat anywhere nearby.  He left his footprints in the pollen on the chair as evidence.  Jason always checked on them when he came home in the afternoons, and one day, they were gone, prints were found, and the nest was a mess.  He cleaned it out, and put the wreath up.  Stupid cat.

Here are a few pics of the babies before their untimely demise:

They were so fuzzy!  Look close in the first one, you can see one reaching up his head.

A Bird's Nest

Our front door wreath/basket has become the home to a little wren and her eggs!  We kept hearing scratching on our door and just figured maybe the wind was blowing the wreath back and forth, but, this little wren was busy at work building a new nest for her soon-to-come babies!  We only discovered it underneath all the flowers, after Jason opened the door one day and she almost hit him in the face flying out so fast.

We have since moved it off of the door, so that our little visitor wouldn't accidentally fly into our house one day, because if that happened, Jason would come home to find me passed out on the floor.  Birds are cute, but not when they are close up or flying freely in my house and dive bombing my head.  Just sayin'.  So now, they (along with their wreath/basket home) are perched in one of our rocking chairs where we can keep a watchful eye from the front window:)

FIVE YEARS!!!

Happy Anniversary, Babe!  It just doesn't seem like it's been 5 years already!  It's not always been easy (deployments, moving ALOT, the separations), but it's all been worth it to be with you!  We missed our 2nd and 4th anniversaries due to deployments, so this one is so much more special because we are spending it together!!!  You truly complete me, and I love you so much.  I am looking forward to what our future holds for us.  I thank God for you and for blessing me with such a wonderful husband.  Here's to our first 5 years, and for all the ones still to come!  All my love, forever...

Boots

Tidying up the house a little bit ago, I was annoyed to find these sitting in the middle of the floor...

But then, I thought about how I haven't seen these laying around for this whole last year, and I just smiled, and remembered to thank God that my sweet man made it home safe and sound from another deployment.  Dirty ole combat boots on the floor really aren't that bad:)

Signs of Spring!

...at least in my house!

The sunny 60 degree day today isn't so bad either!

Snow at the Coast!

This hardly ever happens!  We were pretty excited to get 7 inches of snow in our little coastal community:)  I've had my snow now though, and now I'm ready for SPRING!!!

Nap Time with Uncle Jason

Two sweet sleeping fellas;o)  I love these guys!

A New Look for Kojak!

Our naked pup, doesn't he look goofy!?  We like that he's not shedding huge fur balls everywhere now, so we can deal with goofy;o)  I think he likes it too, especially with the warmer temps here!

A Sad Day, Post # 2

Today, I'm asking my dear blogging friends to lift my Grandma Evon up in prayers.  She has been taken back to the hospital by ambulance due to her blood pressure dropping and fluid in her lung.  She's not recovering as quicklyor as well as we had all hoped.  We are all waiting to hear news on what's going on, as they are admitting her again.  I still believe that she didn't survive that heart attack for nothing.  I just want to see her back in top shape.  I've been talking to her on the phone this week, and she was sounding better finally, she was in good spirits and laughing more.  She still has a lot of life and fight in her, and I'm praying this is not something serious, and if you all would too, it would mean the world to me.  I really feel like our family has been under attack for a while now, and without the Lord, things would've, at times, seemed hopeless.  I'm so thankful that we have our God to lean on in times like this, He is so good, and I know He is with us all right now.

A Sad Day

Well, today hasn't been a great day.  I'm feeling so sad right now.  Sad because my great grandmother is suffering, sad to see her finally lose her fight, sad that she hasn't remembered us for a while now, but I have to be happy that she is finally going to be with our Lord and with her husband, my Grandaddy and Uncle Skip, among many others who have gone on before, in Heaven.  She's had a long, long life, and her last several years have been hard.  I think she's ready, though.  Like I said, she's not remembered many of us for a few years, and the fall and the broken hip was the last thing her frail body could handle.  She surprised us so many times before and pulled through when no one thought she would.  But this time, it's time.  Her breathing has slowed to about 1 breath per minute, and they have told the family that she will pass at some point today.  I pray for a peaceful passing for this dear, sweet lady.

I remember growing up, the house we lived in was right across a field from her house.  Grandma Jordan, as we fondly called her, always welcomed visits from us.  She was usually out in her garden, pulling weeds, growing beautiful fruits and vegetables, or tending to something around the house.  She also always had something good to eat, just like grandmas do.  Fresh baked bread, or cookies.  And if she didn't, she'd pull the stuff out to help us make some.  She was a wonderful cook!  Many a time, I would set out for her house, stop at the cherry tree in the big field between our houses, and then take off for our afternoon visits.  Her house was also the place I would "run away" to.  If I was mad at my parents, and threatened to "run away" in my childish anger, they knew where I was going, and would call ahead (which I learned of later on).  Grandma would always be waiting on me once I got there.  She would run and chase me and Ashley in our younger years, and she could keep up!  She had a pecan tree and a really cool shelling machine that she always let us "help" her with.  She loved playing board games with us.  She loved animals, and I never, ever saw an animal that didn't adore her.  Her faithful companion, Scamp, was her dog and best friend until she couldn't care for him anymore.  She survived a house fire, even though she forgot in the midst of it, that her house was on fire.  She reminded us everyday that she wanted to go back to her house, back to her home, once she had to go to assisted living.  She was persistent, and stubborn, and fiesty.  She had that fire all the way up to her last days.  She was all those things, but she was also understanding, sweet, loving, and hard working.  She used to have her own drapery shop when it wasn't popular for women to even work, she worked in a bakery (no wonder she could cook so well!), and every afternoon, she laid down on the floor and took a nap.  She loved her soap operas and the Wheel of Fortune.  She never could remember Jason, Matt, or Austin, but she still loved them.  She loved babies and kids, and Austin would just sweetly sit by her at family gatherings.  She took a liking to Jason, and he ate it up.  She always talked about how handsome he is, and how he has such "broad shoulders".  I'd tell her, "well, Grandma, that's my husband", and she'd say what a catch I had;o)  He offered to take her on numerous dates, and she would always answer, "well, anytime, honey!"  Most of these memories are mine, a few have been added from stories I've heard of her.  There are so, so many, and I could never put her life into words.  She was a wonderful grandmother, and I know I'll see her again one day as she will be waiting with the rest of my sweet loved ones at the pearly gates. 

I love you, Grandma Jordan.  I'm glad you are finally going "home" and will no longer be in pain.