Long Lost Blogger

We're still alive!

I've been terrible at blogging! I just looked at my last post and it's been close to two months. This month has flown by. We've been busy here lately getting ready for Christmas and we are happy to say we're done with shopping for the year Woo Hoo! Zak and I both have Christmas Eve off this year and we are looking forward to spending the day together. I'm excited about being in the kitchen cooking, something I haven't been able to do in awhile.

I want to give a special shout out to our niece Maddie. She is 4 years old today!

Happy Birthday MADDIE!!

We will get to see her, as well as my sister Beth, on Christmas Eve and have a special birthday party for her. I can't wait for them to get here!

And since a post is just not as fun without a picture, I'll leave you with Maggie wishing you all a Merry Christmas!!

Girl Time

This weekend, my girlfriends from college came to Hickory to see me. Jeneane, Kyra, Zak, and me all went out to eat and played board games all night. We got up on Saturday and ate brunch before they had to leave. It was a lot of fun. Here is a picture of the three of us at Dos Amigos Friday night...

Zak's Birthday

On Saturday, I put together a birthday celebration for Zak's 27th birthday that lasted all day. When we first woke up I surprised him with a book I made. It was a 'choose your own adventure' book. He was given directions and choices and he decided what we did for his birthday. Throughout the book he got to open a present, he was given a coupon for a back massage, we walked in the park, and ate at his favorite restaurant, Chili's. Later in the evening my parents and Maddie came over to our apartment and we threw Zak a party. I made homemade pizza, Zak and Maddie got presents and then we had cake and ice cream. Maddie played with our dog Maggie the whole time and we all had a fun time. Here are pictures from throughout his day...

Mayberry Day

This past Saturday, Beth, Paul, and Maddie flew down to see Mayberry Day in Mt. Airy. My parents picked them up at the airport at 7am and we met up with them right before the parade started. We ate at Snappy Lunch and tried to shop but the crowds were too much for us. When we had seen everything we decided to visit Eng and Chang's grave nearby (Siamese twins). Afterwards, we went back to my parent's house and had the best supper ever made by my Mom and Dad. Then we sat on the porch, played with Maddie, watched the movie 'Heidi', and ate dessert. Beth, Paul, and Maddie left the next morning early but it was such a fun day and I can't wait to see them again!

Happy Birthday Daddy

My Dad's birthday was yesterday and he turned 53! Zak and I (and Maggie) came over around 6 and we had pizza for supper. Afterwards we surprised him (Even though it really wasn't a surprise) with a cake and presents. He got lots of goodies to play with and enjoy. We had a good time and I hope you had a good birthday Daddy!

My Favorite Parts About Our Beach Trip

We made it home from the beach today and I'm already missing it. It was such a relaxing week and I wasn't ready to come back to reality. We got up this morning, ate some breakfast, and started packing. Zak and I are very organized people so it didn't take much effort. Yesterday afternoon we had gone out to eat with the whole family and had our family portrait taken. I set up my tripod and timer and it seemed to work out great. Afterwards we went over to Clawson's Restaurant and had a good time.

I started thinking about all the things I was going to miss and realized there were a lot of good moments on this beach trip. So I decided to put together all my favorite things from this beach trip...

1. The beautiful September weather. This time of year never seemed better and we avoided the real hot temperatures of the summer.

2. The exclusiveness of going this time of year. We always had the beach to ourselves, and the restaurants weren't crowded.

3. I got to meet Zak's cousin Anna, her husband Jeff, and their baby Levi for the first time. It was so nice to get to know them and have the whole week to do so.

4. The house we stayed in was amazing. It held 18 people comfortably and was so family oriented.

5. Waking up in the morning overlooking the ocean made me feel so blessed.

6. Asher and Lucia kept me busy but I will miss them. I had so many laughs because of them.

7. Nothing is better than laying on the beach in the shade reading a book and listening to the waves crashing.

8. We had amazing food all week. Paula, Karen, and Rosemary made sure we had great suppers every night from chili, BBQ, chicken pot pie...the list goes on.

9. Lastly, I loved having a full house of 18 people talking, laughing, doing this and that all together every night. I love more than anything being surrounded by family and this beach trip was just that.

Double Date

Another beautiful day at the beach. Yesterday was a day for relaxing and we all laid around all day. It started at the ocean and later we worked our way back up to the pool. I seemed to have come down with a cold (Yeah, I know. Who gets colds at the beach?). So today was perfect for me. No one had any plans and we just soaked up the sun.

Here is baby Levi catching some rays.

As the day went on, Zak started thinking about a restaurant called The Sanitary Fish Market that we had been to the last time we were here. He really wanted to go and so we decided we would go there for supper. We invited everyone to go and Emily and Ian decided to go too. It turned into a double date.

The best part of the restuarant is the location. It sits right on the water and after we ate we walked around and looked at the sunset and the big boats.

These were a bunch of clams that I thought looked cool but it certainly didn't smell cool.

One of the big sail boats. They were all really nice.

Afterwards, we went and played putt-putt. No one else wanted to go because it was getting late, they said (It was close to 8:30). So Zak and I, and Emily and Ian went together.

It was a very big and nice putt-putt course and we had to ride a train to get to the starting point. Here Zak and I are on the train.

Inside one of the many caves Zak makes the shot (I feel like a commentator)

There's me!

Emily seemed to almost make a hole in one everytime but never succeeded.

After the game we waited eagerly as Zak tallied up the score (Ian was making fun of us)

If you can see the score The Zak Attack won with 44, Ian came in second with a close 48, Schnookums (Emily) came in third with a 53, and Dork Face (That would be me. Ian made up our names) came in last with 61.

On our way back we stopped at a Dairy Queen for some ice cream

We sat and talked for awhile and when the Dairy Queen employees started counting the money we took the hint and left. It was a fun night with the four of us.

This morning half of the family took the kids to the aquarium. Zak and I went last time we were here and decided to stay back with the other half of the family for another relaxing day in the sun. At four this afternoon we are all going shopping in Beaufort, have a family picture taken, and eat at Claussen's Restaurant at 6:30. It should be another fun day.