YAY!!! Keith's Home.....for now anyway!

I don't have anything profound, clever, or funny to say.... (Ok so I never have anything that great to say!)

Keith is home and we are very thankful for that! He wasn't gone that long, but it seemed like forever, because he is a great Daddy and husband!! :)

Babe, if you're reading this, I love you and thanks for taking the trash out this morning. You Rock, and I love you!! :)

Happy Mother's Day... to my Mom!!

Today I want to say....

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom!!!!!

Thanks Mom, for the many sacrifices that you have made for us through out the years!! I love you so much!!!!

I'm sorry I didn't get your card mailed in time... (WOW... what a surprise... I am the world's greatest procrastinator. I'm sure you'll get it before next month??!!??)

In all seriousness, you are the best Mom and I LOVE YOU!!!

Our Trip to the Honolulu Zoo

We went to the Honolulu Zoo on Saturday. We had a lot of fun. There was no parking, so we parked at the mall and rode the trolley. There was a sign as you begin the tour that read, "Best Zoo for 2400 miles". It's one of the smallest zoos we have visited, but we had fun.

Here's 2 monkeys posing in front of the elephants!

I think they were looking at the turtles.

This is the only snake in Hawaii!!! (Ok so there was another at the zoo and I didn't take the picture...) Hawaii tries to keep snakes off the island. You aren't allowed to have them as pets. They don't want the snakes taking over the island. Guam has this problem and I hope we never get stationed there!! When we go hiking through the jungle...I tell myself...There are no snakes in Hawaii...There are no snakes in Hawaii... :)

She hates having her picture taken...just like her mom and dad. So he grabbed her and put his arm around her so I could get a picture of the two of them.

You wouldn't believe how hard it is to take their picture!!!

This is Diamond Head. We have climbed it, as well as several of our family members.

Megs took this picture of us.

Keith said the zebra needed a bath because it's stripes were brown instead of white... :)

She always ends up on his shoulders!!!

The girls petting a goat.

Megs petting the goat... she is growing up too fast.

See the goat to the right of Keith?? Don't let him fool you...he had to pet the goat too. My battery was dying, so by the time I got the picture to take it had walked away.

Keith, Megs, and Gracie in front of a cool tree outside of the zoo.

The Pizza Delivery Guy Made Me Smile Today...

I was lazy tonight and ordered pizza. I was told it would take 50 mins. to arrive at the house. That was fine. It came in 30 mins.

I opened the door and said, "Wow that was fast!!" The pizza delivery guy said, "Yeah it's fast now that we use DiGorno!!"

He made my day... He was probably my Dad's age... with his corny sense of humor. It made me miss my Dad!! :)

So... now you know Pizza Hut's new secret... They're using DiGorno!! :)

An apology to my Mom...

For about 9 years, I have teased my mother about something and now I must apologize.

My parents were visiting us when we lived in Navy housing in Goose Creek about 9 years ago. I think it was after Meghan was born... I'm not sure, because the story has grown and grown.

To make a long story short, (yeah right) my Mom went to turn the light on in the kitchen. Instead of the light coming on, the garbage disposal came alive and she grinded a spoon or maybe it was a fork. I don't remember what it was... And I have unmercifully teased her. As a matter of fact, I told her we had to finally break down and buy some new silverware, because every time she comes to visit she ruins my silverware. (Again... it was only 1 piece of silverware...)

When she came to Hawaii to visit, I had fun pointing out that the garbage disposal is located UNDER the sink!!! She would have to try hard to "accidentally" grind my silverware.

Fast forward to two nights ago... I didn't check to see if there was anything in the garbage disposal when I turned it on... I grinded a spoon and completely destroyed it... Now I feel like an idiot, and I will have to find something else to tease my Mom about!! :)

Mom I apologize for teasing you... I love you!!! :)

Yesterday's trip to Bellows Beach

Since Keith had duty on Easter... (had to work/sleep on the boat) they let him come home early yesterday. So we decided to go to the beach.

We went to Bellows. It's our favorite beach. During the week only the military are allowed there and it's not crowded! And it's just beautiful!

I snapped a picture of Keith driving down the road...
He got a picture of us in the jeep at the beach.

At first, Gracie thought the water was too cold..The girls having fun in the water together.
See this is proof that they do love each other!!
Megs with her body board.
Gracie with her body board.
Megs started pulling Gracie on the body board....
And then she fell.... surprisingly there was no outburst!!! :)
Keith and Megs
Megs and Keith on their body boards.

Keith and Gracie on the body board.



Megs, Gracie, and Daddy
After that we left Bellows and headed for North Shore. We ate at Killer Tacos and then headed home. It was a great day. It was nice to get out and drive around the island. I forget how beautiful Hawaii really is!!! (We live in the city)

Family Visit Part 1

It's been a long time since I have posted anything. My Sister had her baby and I got to go to Georgia to meet my nephew!! Keith was on a short deployment, so I went to visit my family while he was gone. He joined us for the last two weeks of our trip.

We had a great visit with our families, but it feels good to be home. I have finally come to the realization that home is where God sends us on this journey with the Navy. God has placed our family in Hawaii...so I will be happy, because this is where He wants us for the moment.


Here are a "few" pictures of our trip... WARNING!! I took a lot... so you might want to skip this post... :) I am attempting to blog in chronological order... starting from the beginning. Hopefully I will get it right. :)



Here's Megs and Gracie meeting Brody for the first time:

This is the girls about 4:30p.m. the first day. They tried so hard to stay awake...waiting for Grandma to get home.


Grandma and Grandpa played a lot of games with the girls. Megs and Gracie got bored very easily, thanks to the cold weather. Here's a picture of them playing Life. We also played Uno and Phase 10.

The first weekend we were there it was supposed to be rainy, so we took a field trip to Fernbank Science center. We all had a great time!

Megs and Gracie posing in front of a dinosaur:



Megs making a big bubble.

Grandpa and Gracie taking their turn.


My Mom and Dad. A.K.A. Grandma and Grandpa.

Mom and me resting on a bench. I just HAD to snap a picture. :)

If you're in Atlanta with Grandma and Grandpa you HAVE to stop at the Varsity for a shake. Here's a picture of Gracie with her Varsity hat. Megs wouldn't let me take a picture of her in the hat...she's too old for that.



Here's Megs riding the 4-wheeler. My Uncle Kenny brought his grandson, Dalton's 4wheeler over and let Megs ride it the whole time we were in Georgia. He left it at Grandma and Grandpa's house. That was very sweet of Uncle Kenny and Dalton. Thank you!! She had so much fun!!

Here's Gracie with Rocky. My 1st nephew. :)


Me and my "little brother" Gary.

My Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Jerry stopped by to see us. They actually stopped by several times!! :) I hope they come and visit us in Hawaii one day!! Here are a few pictures from their first visit.

Aunt Eleanor and Megs

Uncle Jerry and Gracie

Here's a picture of all of us.

Here's a cute picture of Brody from that night. Did I mention that I LOVE being an Aunt??

My Poppa and Marie came by for a visit. These are pictures from that night.
Uncle Gary with Gracie.



Uncle Gary and Megs

My Sissy, Carla, holding her son Brody. Here's some pictures from a lazy Sunday afternoon...

Megs and Brody

PJ and Gracie

They look like they were caught plotting something...

My Handsome Grandaddy

Another adorable picture of Brody

This is a picture of Keith's grandparents Pop and Nan, with the girls. They took us to Cracker Barrel one night. The chicken n dumplings were delicious!

Aunt Carla caught Gracie pitching a fit and snapped a picture. This is the REAL Gracie... Ask Carla about one of our trips to Target...

This is one of my favorite pictures of Megs and Brody.

Gracie and Brody

Uncle Gary looks good in red... to bad it's not "Georgia Bulldog" red

4 cousins... :) I have to include Rocky... he was my first nephew! And the ONLY dog in the world that I love. :)

Brody and his favorite Aunt Bekah with a "K".

Sweet picture of Steven, Carla, and Brody

Carla and Brody... She is a great Mom... I always knew she would be. Thanks for making me an Aunt!!!

It seems every time I would hold Brody after he had eaten... he would poop. This is what you would see...

I caught Grandpa changing Brody's diaper...

This picture is of me with 3 of my bestest friends (other than Keith of course!)Me, Carla, Amy, and Stephanie. Amy is the one who got Keith and me together...

One more picture of Aunt Bekah and Brody.

For my Mom's birthday we all went to the Georgia Aquarium. (Everyone but Keith and Gary. They both had to work. I'm assuming that's what Keith does when he's on the Submarine... Sometimes, I think he's the only one working on the Sub...)

Happy Birthday Mom!!

My Sister's going to kill me, but... here's a picture of us.
Steven, Carla, and Brody

Aunt Carla had to bribe Gracie to get this picture. She told Gracie she could hold Brody for a minute if she took the picture. It worked! The girls love holding their cousin!! :)


My Sweet Girls
Eating Grandma's birthday do-nuts... Don't ask how many Mom and I had... :)


Grandma and the girls had fun playing with play-dough. Here's a sample of the food they made.





I'm going to end here for now. Part 2 will follow this post... I'll post them all at once so there's no confusion... Whew I need a break... I forgot how much stuff we packed into our short visit!! :)

Family Visit Part 2

We spent the day with my Aunt Betts and her family. She holds a special place in my heart. Aunt Betts and her sister Christine (my Nana) were very close. Nana is in heaven, and I am very thankful to still have my Aunt Betts. I still miss Nana, after almost 15 yrs.

Aunt Betts holding Brody for the first time.

Steve cooked the best burgers!!

Deb holding Brody
Donna, Aunt Betts, Dad and Mom





That night we went to Brian's "See you later" Party. My cousin Kendra's husband Brian is going to Afghanistan. It was great to see my family...I wish it was a welcoming home party. Brian, Kendra, and their kids are in my prayers!!
Here's a few random pics.

Brian singing

The pickin' n grinners... :) Who knew my Dad could play/sing something besides gospel music!! :)

Candid shot of my Mom... hopefully she'll be tired of reading these posts and won't notice I posted it... but it's cute and I couldn't resist... :) I love you MOM!


Matt and Denise... aren't they the cutest couple... besides Keith and me!! :)

My cousins Jill and Christina

Uncle Dan


Marie and Poppa

My Cousin Kendra

Aunt Carol, Andy, Kallie
Megs and Gracie with my cousin's kids!! Man we are getting old!! :) Jay, Carlee, and Amy
Aunt Eleanor and me :) I love her so much! Thanks for really caring about me and my family. You and Uncle Jerry are the best!! :) You guys have to come visit us!! (I know they read my blog...so I had to throw that in here.)

On March 1st... It snowed!! Megs and Gracie had never seen real snow! They had seen snow on T.V., but were never given the opportunity to play in it. Megs had been praying a long time that it would snow. We went down to Pop and Nan's that day for a few mins. The snow began sticking so much we had to leave. On the way back to Mom and Dad's, Meghan said, "Mom, God answered my prayers!! He sent snow!!" I think it's amazing the "little miracles" that God gives us. It really strengthened Meghan's faith.

Uncle Duh with the girls
Megs having fun at the snow at Pop and Nan's
Megs riding the 4-wheeler in the snow
Gracie getting ready to ride the 4-wheeler
Snowman that Grandma and Grandpa made while we were at Pop and Nan's house.
Gracie didn't really like the snow. She thought it was too cold. But I did manage to get a couple of pictures of her.


Grandpa and the girls throwing snowballs
Megs making a snow angel


Gracie looks thrilled to be in the snow!! :)
My Dad is a big kid!!


Uncle Gary
Carla and Brody
My adorable nephew feeling snow for the first time.

Here's the tree house my Dad started to build for the girls... They had fun playing in it!! The walls weren't finished due to everyone getting sick, and the weather. They still had tons of fun.

Here's Grandma up in the treehouse with the girls... I was too chicken to climb up the tree... Ok, I'll end here and begin with Part 3 Hope you aren't asleep and have followed the trip this far! :)

Family Visit Part 3

Here are some pictures of the girls riding the 4-wheelers. Grandpa let Gracie ride by herself. Thankfully there is a kill switch in case she got crazy... She did good for a 4 yr. old. :)

Here's Megs...
She splashed thru the mud puddle and got mud caked in her hair. She had so much fun!


Gracie getting ready to ride by herself... Don't worry we put the helmet on her first... I just HAD to get a picture without the helmet. :)

Little Daredevil
Gracie riding thru the mud puddle Aunt Hazel and Uncle Bill stopped by for dinner one night. egs riding the motorcycle at Pop and Nan's... Keith was finally in Georgia!! YAY!!

Pop and Gracie
Nan and Me Here's a very short video of Megs riding the Motorcycle.


Here's a short video of Megs riding the Go-Cart at Paw Paw's (Keith's Dad)

And Keith riding the GO-Cart... Yep he's still a kid!!

Paw Paw riding Megs on the 4-wheeler
Paw Paw riding Megs and Gracie on the 4-Wheeler
Uncle Duh riding the girls on the 4-wheeler
Keith riding with Gracie on the Go-Cart
Here's a picture of Keith and me from that day. Notice the creepy look from me?? I'm trying not to blink as my picture is being taken... I ALWAYS blink! This is Keith's Poppa and Granny (His Dad's parents)with the girls.
Poppa with the girls. OK... Once again I'm ending here...and will start back with Family visit #4.... Yep there are more pictures...

Family Visit Part 4

Here are a few pics of our second visit with Pop and Nan. We got the chance to visit with Keith's Mom too.

Gracie pitching a fit...
Can you spot the bird in the tree?? Keith took this picture. He was playing around with the camera.

Another bird in the tree.

Keith and Pop

I love blogging while Keith's not here... :) Here's a picture of Keith playing with the fishing pole. There's no way he's going to get this far and read these posts! :)
Keith with Pop and Nan

Sonny(Keith's Mom), Pop, and Keith
Picture of a purple flower taken by Keith.

Gracie eating an ice cream sandwich... Pop's special treat for them.
They went fishing.
And Keith hopped on the motorcycle. Pop got it when Keith was 5 yrs old. 25yrs later and he still thinks he's a kid. I'm glad! It makes him a awesome Dad and Husband! I love this guy!! :)

Megs took this picture.
Megs holding Oddball (Keith's snake)when we went and visited Dale in SC.

Gracie making a "snow angel" on the air mattress she slept on at Uncle Duh's house.
Megs got to see her cat Tickles. Uncle Duh is doing a great job looking after Tickles. She was very happy and content at his house! Thank you Duh for taking care of Tickles!!



On March 21st, my little brother Gary, got married!! He married Michelle, the girl he's been chasing for a long time. He also gained a daughter when he married Michelle. Her name is Madison and she is so cute!! I still can't believe my little brother is married. (OK so he's 26 and not so little... he's taller than me!) Here's a few pictures of their marriage. I don't have that many pictures of them, because we left shortly after they got back from being married.

Gary, Michelle, and Madison

While they were getting married, Keith,me, Megs, Gracie, Steven, Carla, and Duh (Dale) went to Six FLags.
Gracie rode the Scream Machine, Mind Bender, The Wheelie, and The Mine Train. If she had been taller she would have ridden several other rides. She is our little Daredevil!!
Here are a few pictures from Six Flags. We really had a great time!!

Megs and Gracie with Batman and Wonder Woman.
Gracie and Keith riding the Scream Machine... They are in the first car.
Keith and Gracie in the first seats. Steven and Carla in the 2nd set of seats of the Mine Train.
Uncle Duh and Gracie in the first seats of the Mine train. Megs and I in the 2nd set of seats of the Mine train.
Keith, Duh, Carla, and Steven also rode some of the bigger rides. There wasn't enough time to do it all. We had a great time! Thinking about that day, makes me miss my Sissy!!

The Friday Night before Six Flags, Amy S. got a group of us together for a reunion. It was at a Mexican restaurant. It was so much fun. Amy took a few pictures...but we didn't get any of her and Jerrod!! Dave and Becca were also there. Here some pics. from that night.
Lynn one of my best friends since 4th grade!

Dale with one of the guys from the Mariachi band.
Me and my Knight in shining whatever... :)
Amy MADE me get up and dance!! Don't you see the gun pointed at my head???!!??

Awwww isn't this a cute picture??


My Sissy and me!! Have I mentioned that I miss her??!!!??? We spent a lot of time together over the last couple of months. We have really bonded. We had so much fun running to Target, Truette's and everywhere else you can imagine!! I also miss my nephew, Brody!! He is one special little boy!
Do we look like twins?? :)





Here are a few pictures of us with my Grandparents. PJ and Grandy or (Meema/Granny/ and Grandaddy)
Grandy goosing Gracie...

Megs and PJ





Later on that day... Megs got to drive Grandpa's truck out in the field... notice he is sitting right next to her!! :) I almost forgot... here are a couple of pictures of my kids taking a course in redneck training...

Family Visit Part 5

Ok... Here's the last post.

My Mother begged all of us to get together and take a family portrait. She wanted Keith to take the picture. He must love his mother-in-law. :) He hates having his picture taken... :) (We took it before Gary and Michelle were married, that's why Michelle and Madison aren't in it.) So here are a few pictures from that night.

Mom, Carla, and Me

Practicing with the remote.


Seriously Gary... You should be happy that I'm your sister!!!!








Here we are in front of the old barn.

By now you are probably bored and yawning... like Brody in this picture...

I think that is all of the pictures that I have to blog... You can all breathe a sigh of relief... I will be back to blogging about nothing... :) We had a great time. It's good to be home and back to our own routine... BUT it's sad being so far from our family!!!!

OK OK, so I didn't win the challenge....

Ok Keith was right (AS USUAL!) I got tired of trying to come up with something thankful...

EVERYDAY!!! It's harder than you think...

So I will continue to add my thankful posts, every once in awhile, as apposed to everyday.

I really am thankful for many things. God has really blessed me and for that I am so thankful!! But for now, that's the end of my thankful posts!! :)

So breathe a sigh of relief, I will be back to posting about the girls and whining when Keith is gone!!! :) (I'm sure that's much better to read!)

I am...

Thankful Keith got my Ipod set up...

I got a purple one for Christmas, but haven't had time to pick songs.

Keith added a file with songs from when we were dating... And other songs we've listened to over the years.

So now when he's gone, and I'm missing him, I can listen to the file...
Of course, I'll start crying!! :) It stinks when he has to leave, but I'm thankful he has a good job!!!

Thankful Post...

Tonight I am thankful we won free movie tickets at the Ship's Christmas party... On Dec. 5th.

Today we used the free tickets and took the kids to the movies. We saw the movie "Bedtime Stories". It's a really cute movie!!!

Thankful Post for Tonight

Tonight I am thankful I finally finished my lesson plans for the next few weeks. YAY!!!!

It took most of the day, but I'm finally done! :)

Sneaking Thankful Post #8 in....

Well last night I forgot to post my thankful post.

I was waiting for the Fl/Ok game to end. I was hoping Ok would win so I could win the Yahoo College Bowl Pick'em. Well that didn't happen....

Keith and I got the girls to bed and then watched "Get Smart" (the movie). During the movie I was thinking of what I could be thankful for. I decided I would be thankful for Keith taking the trash to the curb...

So while Keith was taking the trash to the curb, I forgot to post my thankful post...

I wonder if he'll let me slide??? Probably not, but last night I really was very thankful that he took the trash to the curb....

Thankful Post Day 7

Tonight I am thankful Keith found my watch!! The battery only cost $2.97.

It saved me the cost of a new watch. It is my watch with the purple face. Of course I'm thankful for that too. :)

I can't believe this is my 7th post. I'll be honest, if I wasn't trying to prove Keith wrong, I would have given up after day 2 or 3. It's really hard to come up with something different everyday.

Thankful Post Day 6

Tonight I am thankful Gracie didn't have any major meltdowns today!! :)

Day 5 Thankful Post

Wow this is my fifth thankful post. :)

I am thankful Carla got to come home from the hospital today!!! Praise God!!! :)

My Thankful Post For Tonight

Tonight I am thankful, Carla is doing much better! PRAISE GOD!!! :)

Tonight I'm thankful for....

Wow this is getting harder than I thought and it's only the 3rd day! :) But I will prove Keith wrong...

So tonight I am thankful.... that the exchange had the latest Karen Kingsbury book... :)

This is something to be thankful for, because they rarely sell her books at the Navy exchange.

I am also thankful for Christmas money so I could buy the book!! :)

Thankful post day 2

Tonight I am thankful I was able to talk to Carla. Please continue to pray for her...

(I guess that's all I can type tonight... Or I will start complaining... and my goal is to be thankful!)

So I will keep it short tonight!

Happy New Year...

Ok I'm not good at New Year's resolutions...
I make them and then break them before the month is up...
I told Keith I wanted to post something everyday on my blog that I am thankful for.
But I know after doing it for a month I will stop...
He said it would be less than a month...
Well that sounds like a challenge!!! :)
The reason I want to do this, is because I find myself complaining too much. Everyone knows I don't like living in Hawaii. It's too far from family with Keith being on Sea duty...

So I am going to try and post 1 thing I am thankful for... Even if it's something silly. Hopefully it will change my perspective...

Today I am thankful for my husband, Keith who challenges me.... :) I love him... And I will get passed a month of this if it kills me.... I must win this... :) He can't always be right!!! :)

I'M FINALLY AN AUNT!!!!! :) YAY!!!!

Can you tell I am super-excited???? I am finally an Aunt!!! My sister had her baby (BRODY) tonight!

He weighs 7 pounds 12 ounces!

He is 20 inches long! He is soooo cute.

(Ok I only know this, because I was sent pictures... :( I really wish I could have been there. I have cried a lot today, because I can't be there with Carla. BUT I know Steven is taking excellent care of her! Mom and Dad will be helping too.

Carla gave me permission to post a few pics. so I am going to show off my nephew. (I have waited a LONG time to be an Aunt!!)

The girls are also very excited to have a cousin!!!
Here's Brody....

I'm adding a picture of Steven (Carla's husband/Brody's Dad OR as my girls call him... Uncle Stevie.) and Brody.. .

Catching up...

Pop and Nan came for a visit... so I haven't had time to blog.

We had a really nice visit...

On Dec. 23rd, Keith turned 30! (I'm going to sneak a pic of him. Shhhhh don't tell him...)

I think he looks good for someone turning 30... Then again I am slightly older than him, so I couldn't tease him! (He likes to remind me of this!)

Here are a few pictures from Christmas. The kids were spoiled thanks to all of the people who sent gifts from the mainland.

Here's a picture of Pop and Nan

Gracie


Megs




I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We were blessed to have Pop and Nan with us!!