Our trip to New Mexico Part 1

Playing with uncle George

Uncle George brought presents.

Poppy and Bryson

Gigi and Carter

Mimi and the boys

Papa gives the boys a bubble bath.

Pop Pop and the boys.

Running Races.

Poppy and Bryson

Poppy and Carter

Playing with uncle George.


These were some of the pictures from the first 2 days.

Our trip to New Mexico

We left March the 25th on a flight from North Carolina to New Mexico. The boys did very well, considering we were up at 3am to drive an hour and a half to the airport. Our first flight was three hours our second flight was two and a half hours and then we had to drive an hour and a half to my dad's house. We also had a layover in Houston.

I have learned from previous flights that Carter is a mover so I decided this time to bring his car seat on board and it was a blessing. I had always wondered why other mothers would lug around their huge car seat. "Why can't your kids just sit still" I would think, "Mine sits still". Then I had Carter and I truly understood why they would lug around a 15 pound car seat all through the airport. To strap the kid in duh!! Carter did wonderful. I am sure I was a sight to see though in Houston. I had the single jogging stroller with our carry on suitcase, the huge car seat, and a backpack on the stroller. After all that I was lugging around there was no room for either one of them to sit. Therefor, I had two very energetic children, from sitting on plane for three hours running all around me. They were doing laps around me like they were in the Indy 500.

The first flight Bryson sat by the window and then the second flight it was Carter's turn. On the second flight when we were coming in for the landing Carter says "Look at all that dirt" as he is saying this he is moving his arms in a big circle. He also says that our mountains are big mounds of dirt. Coming from a two year it makes perfect sense. He has grown up with the lush green grass and trees from North Carolina. This was something completely new for him. It makes me think of Bryson when we first moved to North Carolina. The first full day we were there he says "Mom we are driving in the forest." He was four when we moved to North Carolina. He grew up with the cactus's, dirt and rocks of Arizona. It's interesting to see them both experience something completely new.

And thus starts the first day of our two week vacation. Unforunatly Joseph wasn't able to come with us so you won't be seeing any pictures of him.

Happy Easter...

I woke up to Joe bringing me Starbucks. What a wonderful husband I have. Then the kids checked out what the Easter bunny brought them.
After eating some candy I spotted an egg on our new trampoline. I told Bryson that I think the easter bunny came to our house. They put their shoes and jackets on and they were off. The easter bunny left bunny tracks on our trampoline while leaving some eggs behind. They looked high and low until all the eggs were found.



That afternoon we had an Easter potluck. The idea came about last Sunday while cleaning house I asked Joe if the base was doing and easter egg hunt. He said that they were not, and I was shocked. They had one the previous year and it turned out really well. We have always done the base Easter egg hunt and this was the first year that the base was not having one. Anyway Sunday night was the night that my friend Staci came over and I asked her what she thought of the idea. She liked it and said she would come. The next day was St. Patrick's day and Staci's daughter Kate had her birthday. At the party I asked/invited everyone to attend and got some yes's and maybe's. My other friend Sarah said that she would help spread the word and get things together. Every family was to bring their own meat and then a side dish to share. I also wanted an easter egg hunt for the kids so each child hunting for eggs had to have 12 candy filled eggs. I believe their were 17 kids hunting for eggs, and 13 families all together. Everyone said they had a great time.

Carter and Kate before the egg hunt.

Some of the kids lined up at the start.













Those are a few pictures of some of my friends that came to the party. I realize that I didn't get a picture of everyone. Oops!

Look what I got....

Joseph surprised me with this today....

How I Met My Hillbilly Husband - A Love Story

I am in New Mexico right now. The boys and I flew in yesterday. I will write about our travels here, the other part of our Easter post and of course I will get back to the Disney World posts shortly. Today is Joseph's and my anniversary. He is back in North Carolina and I am here. This is our first one apart and though we are not heart broken about it, we do miss each other. So, without further adu this is how we met.


I would like to dedicate this post to my wonderful husband (who is pictured below). He’s such a great guy, and quite the looker, actually. I was purdy sure that my sister (and maybe even my brothers) had their eyes on him before I snatched him up. I think he’s a purdy good catch.



We met back in Tennessee one year at a skeet shootin’ contest (bet you didn’t know I liked to shoot skeet, did ya?) I saw him walking towards me from across the field. He was wearin’ his nicest pair a overalls with a green and brown plaid shirt that brought out the color in his eyes. When our eyes locked it was like the world went into slow motion all the sudden. I saw fireworks in the background and my heart started beating rapidly.


He walked right up to me and asked “Hey there purdy lady – would you a like to go on a date with a fine fellow such as myself?” I was so twitter pated I could hardly answer. It was like I was in the 8th grade all over again. Well, I actually never was in the 8th grade. I skipped it. And the 9th. And the 10th. And the 11th. And the 12th. But don’t you a worry – I finished up my schooling and got my GED down there at that there school for dropouts. After meeting Joe I wanted to be the best I could be. I wanted to be as edumicated as he was, cuz he’s a purdy smart guy. He tells me that all the time. Anyhow… back to how he asked me out… He told me he had plans to take me to one a them fancy-type restaurants and then out to see a movie. That night we had a lovely dinner at the Chuck-O-Rama there in town and then headed up on the hill overlooking the drive-in theater to watch the movie “How I married my cousin”. We couldn’t actually hear the movie because we weren’t in the actual theater. You see – Joe wasn’t allowed within 60 yards of the theater. It had something to do with a prior “incident” involving Joe, some explosives, an exhaust pipe, a skunk, and an ex-girlfriend. I’m not sure what happened exactly, but the police were called and Joe was banned from entering the theater ever again. We were just as content to watch it from afar.


After our date Joe told me how much fun he had and how much he liked me. He told me that he wanted me to have something of his, as a token of his affection. That’s right – he gave me the first place trophy that he won from the skeet shootin’ contest earlier that day. It had a figurine of a lady bowler and the year 1987 on it (I’m a little confused by that), but it was a nice, shiny gold trophy for heck sake. I was honored that he wanted me to have it so I placed it in a very special place when I got home; right on top of my microwave oven. It’s still there if anyone wants to see it.


We got married a few weeks later in a nice little trailer park right downtown. It was a lovely little weddin’ - decorated up all nice with crepe paper, balloons, confetti, and such. We even had a paper mache piñata shaped like weddin’ bells. We registered down at the pawn shop and got us some really nice stuff.


The rest is pretty much history. We went on to have two handsome sons who are just like their dad, only much cuter. We’re a hopin’ that they’ll be able to go on and win first place in that same skeet shootin’ contest we were in just 6 years ago. Maybe they’ll even find themselves a fine woman the same way their dad did. I sure do love my hillbilly husband, and I sure am glad I got to him before anyone else did.



DISCLAIMER: JOSEPH CAN NOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANY INACCURACIES, EXAGGERATIONS, MISREPRESENTATIONS, OR UNTRUTHS IN THIS POST. THIS POST WAS BLOG-NAPPED AND CHANGED.

Time to color eggs...

After putting the trampoline together it was time to color eggs. The boys had a blast and we all ended up with dyed hands.

We have now joined the eye sore club!

The day started off with an Easter Egg Hunt with the town of Spring Lake. They were holding it were Bryson has t-ball practice. Joe took the kids out there as I had some errands to run.







After the egg hunt we had T-ball practice. The kids did a great job at practice and I think we are going to have a great team. Though Bryson's friend Reagan broke his finger yesterday. We officially have a player on the injured list and we are just in the pre-season. Send prayers that his finger heals fast, we need our players on the field not on the bench.

After practice we jumped into our borrowed truck and we were off to get a trampoline. My good friend Kim let us borrow her truck. The kids were so tired from the earlier events that they took a nap on the drive there. Carter woke up once we got there but Bryson even slept through us taking the trampoline down and loading it into the truck. Then we headed back to the house to put it back together. It's not the prettiest thing on the block but I bet it was the cheapest.




These pictures were taken while putting the trampoline back together. We got so carried away with jumping that I don't have a finish picture yet.