July Madness

So July started with a 4 day trip to Kiawah with Ken's parents which was nice and relaxing. Of course I had my camera in tow and took advantage of the opportunity to get some good beach pics of me and the hubby. I thought they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself! The short vacation was great! We slept in, we were lazy on the beach, we leisurely rode our bikes around the island and ate.. A LOT! Hehehe. But unfortunately 4 days flew by quickly and since I didn't take any time off from work, it was back to the grind immediately. I worked Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and overtime on Friday. It was a long seven days followed by Ken leaving for an 8-day mission trip that next Saturday and me leaving for the beach with my sister and a bunch of her friends and kids. I took my younger cousin so as not to be the odd man out and to keep me awake while driving since I had to work the night before. With four little girls all under the age of five, our daily schedule usually looked like this: Everybody up and breakfast eaten by 9:30ish, dress and head down to the beach around 10:30ish, Beach it up for an hour or two, head to the pool and swim half an hour or jus long enough to get most of the sand out of your bathing suit, lol. Then back to the house for lunch, chil, maybe head back to the pool til about 4 or 4:30 and back to the house for supper/chillin/roack band, or whatever. This is our group at the beach in the giant hole Shane and I dug: I managed to get everybody back on the beach and all dressed up one night for another photography adventure. The men were a little reluctant but with some loving encouragement from the wives, they agreed it would be a good idea. I took pictures of each individual family and they turned out awesome even thought I was worried it would be a massive fail! See, my camera lenses fogged up from being in the air conditioned house for so long and then being moved into the rediculous heat and humidity. They were not responding well to my initial attempts to de-fog but thankfully they cooperated in the end. Just like Kiawah, it was a lot of fun but the time flew by too fast and it was back to the grind again. However I have just spent the most wonderful last three days at home, with no agenda and it felt wonderful. The apartment is a mess but I don't care! I finally got to spend some time with the hubby who has been gone 4 out of the last 6 weeks! I don't wish summer away by any means but it sure is nice to just stay home for a bit. I forgot how crazy summer can get!

Is June Over Already?!?!?!

So, I forgot to mention in the last blog that I had an old friend from nursing school model for pictures in her wedding dress and they are absolutely gorgeous! I was so excited about how they turned out! And as far as the two weeks that I spent with mama and daddy while Ken wa gone?... It was nice but I'm glad he's home now. We will finally get a vacation soon, we leave to go to Kiawah with his parents on the 5th. We can only stay for 4 days b/c I didn't get any time off work but 4 days is better than none :)

Today Is My Birthday!!!!

As of 10:46am today I was officially 21 years old (with 5 years experience, hehe)! My birthday kinda started on Friday even though it really wasn't until Sunday because this summer is gonna be jam packed and crazy. Ken leaves for beach camp on Sunday so he took me out Friday night to eat ant brought me a beautiful bouquet of lillies. Saturday all the girls got together for Tiffany's bachelorette party. Sunday Ken left for beach camp after church and I am spending the next two weeks with Mama and Daddy. Mama had made me ice cream and cake and most of the family was there for a little birthday get together. The cruise that Ken and I helped chaperone earlier this month was not exactly what I was expecting but I'm glad we went because I met some really great girls and hopefully we will keep in touch!

Truck Gardening

So, I drive a Dodge Ram pickup and I have a tendency to leave stuff in the bed of it. When we moved into our apartment, there was a planter in the back of my truck that had lily bulbs in it. Our apartment doesn't have a porch or balconey so with nowhere to put it, it just stayed in the back of the truck. Fast forward six months. Aparently with the sun and rainwater that naturally occurs outside, my lily bulbs have decided to sprout :) So, I guess they will continue to ride around with me in the back of my truck!

Where's The Light In This Tunnel???

Warning: This blog is kinda boring and mostly me just whining! So, the last thing I need to be doing right now is probably blogging but I am anticipating a rough upcoming week and a half so I'm being selfish and taking a few minutes for myself. I have to work tonight and tomorrow night (mon & tues), my call day is Friday, work Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. So out of the next 10 days I have 3 days off ('cause I'm pretty sure I'll have to work my call day). Those three days will fly by. I dunno why I thought Friday would be a good time to schedule my call day. Kuddos to my coworkers that can work 4, 5 and sometimes 6 nights in a row but 3 puts me at my wit's end. So I need to be grocery shopping right now and paying some bills but here I am on my bumper (as my niece calls it) staring at the computer screen. Ken started work today, he has a 10-week internship working under the youth pastor. We're still looking for whatever comes next. I'm just looking forward to Thursday, June 3rd. I will finally be off for a nice little stretch and chaperoning a cruise to the Bahamas! So c'mon June 3rd! You are the light I'm searching for in this tunnel!

The Only Boy Who Could Ever Reach Me Was The Son Of A Preacher Man

It's 2:30 in the morning, I can't sleep. Did I ever mention my husband is in seminary? And for any of you that aren't quite sure what that is, it's not a sperm bank. It is basicly school to be a preacher. So I am married to a man with aspirations to lead a church. ME. A soon-to-be PREACHER'S WIFE! Ha. That ought to get a few good laughs at the 10 year reunion. Needless to say I was not voted "most likely to marry a preacher" in high school. And if you're curious about the title of this blog, his dad is a preacher too. I knew about his calling into the ministry going into our marriage but have kinda innocently put it on the back burner. I mean, he's in school which doesn't technically make him a preacher yet and so technically I'm not a preacher's wife yet, right? Well, he graduates TODAY. And while I'm oh so proud of my preacher man, the reality has slapped me in the face like a hooker on the Jerry Springer Show. What does this mean? How do I continue to be genuinely me while honoring my husband's ministry? To be honest the task before me seems a little bit daunting from this angle. So, like many journies in life I'm expecting some tears, some laughs, some frustration and hopefully a lot of fun. *deep breath* Here we go...

Judah Mann

We named our puppy Judah. A friend of our insisted that dogs should have a middle name as well. After throwing around some ideas, the joke Judah Mann just kinda stuck. You know like, 'you da man'. So, our chocolate lab has reached the ripe old age of 8 months now and just like all people and/or animals has his own list of idiosyncrasies. I am prepared to share some of them with you now:
1) He has, by far, the worst gas I have ever had the displeasure of smelling in my ENTIRE life and I am a nurse, I have smelled some really rank stuff. And when he farts, he jerks around to look at his back side like 'what was that?"
2) He has a oral fixation with underwear and power cords. He has chewed through my computer speaker wires, my iPod ear bud wires and lastly, the vacuum cleaner cord.
3) He's afraid of loud things including but not limited to, the lawn mower, fireworks, the vacuum, garbage disposal, 18 wheelers that pass us on the interstate (he's inside the car).
4) He's afraid of things he doesn't 'know' like for instance, he freaked out when we jogged by a ramp the other day. A moving truck ramp. A completely stationary ramp. He wouldn't even get close enough to smell it.
5) He won't get in the water. Did I mention he's a lab? What kind of 'water dog' refuses to get in the water? He loves a stick though so we tried throwing a stick into the pond. Once he got all four feet wet he turned and looked at us like "Um, who's gonna go get that stick?"
6) He will eat anything, ANYTHING you give him. My four year old niece gets a kick out of feeding him leaves, rocks, sticks, flowers whatever. He WILL NOT eat his heart worm pill. If you will eat a rock or lick the puddle of urine you just peed, how bad can a heart worm pill be?

Despite all his weirdness we love him, some days it's just because we've really invested way to much money in him to get rid of him. He really is a good-looking dog though. I've included some videos of Judah being Judah, enjoy!