The beach is one amazing place.  Look at how many grains of sand there are in just that picture above (well, I mean, you really can't see each grain...but ya know what I mean).  Now multiply that by millions and millions!  What a GREAT God we serve!

Oh, and we're having a splendid time ;)

A Celebratory Day

Disclaimer:  word and picture overload...

The past few days I have gotten to celebrate my birthday!  That's right...I turned 24.  Go ahead and say it, I'm old ;)

Thursday night Jason's family helped me celebrate the day of my birth with a dinner at Bali-Hai (a great Mongolian restaurant).  Then we followed it up with a cookie cake and present-opening.  Our friend, Miriam, who is here from Slovakia and now studying at UNC, came to help me celebrate too!  This made it even more special :)  Thanks for coming, Miriam!

Yesterday was my actual birthday, and Jas had the whole day planned.  We started out with breakfast at Elmo's Diner (my fav!), followed by a photo shoot with him (super sweet since he knew I wanted to practice portraits and since he's a guy and being the subject of a photo shoot isn't exactly his thing), then we did some shopping, stopped by to see Elton, ran by the church where I received a surprise from one of my favorite set of kiddos, and ended the day with dinner and a movie.  It was great quality time, my favorite kind of gift!  I loved every second spent with my best friend.  Thanks, babe!

I also got to have coffee with my friend Brooke this week and she made me this most precious hat.  Thanks, Brooke...I love it!  (pic: courtesy of Brooke).

This weekend we're headed to the beach to celebrate both mine and Jason's birthdays with my family.  Stay tuned--beach and birthday updates to come from our time with them!

Thankful for friends and family to help celebrate my birthday.  Thankful to my mama for having me ;)  And thankful to the Lord for another year of life to live!

Ok...that is one too many pictures of me on here.  You can find me hiding behind the camera again!

24 Years Ago...

God created my best friend, my wife, and love. I thank God for you daily sweetie and glad that God has put us together. 

Happy Birthday!!

World's BIGGEST Ice Cream Sundae

Let me introduce you to the World's BIGGEST ice cream sundae (ok, not really, but it was quite large, nonetheless!)

Tonight we kicked off TWT (That Wednesday Thing) at church.  We celebrated with a large inflatable, candy bars, and a huge ice cream sundae in a gutter.  Don't worry the gutter was clean.  But we sure sugared those kids up! :)  Nothing like some hyped up Jesus-lovin' middle and high schoolers...love it!

Guttery goodness...

They were ANXIOUS to eat that stuff

Ha, look at that ice creamy face :)

Quite gross.  Quite colorful.  Quite hilarious.

Action shot.  I love the color!

Sprinkle tear.

BIG fun!  and a BIG sundae :)

Sweet Stewart Shoot

I had the opportunity to help out RAE with a photo shoot yesterday.  And what cuter family to take pictures of than the Stewarts!  They have five absolutely precious kids, and I sure hope one day I am as good of a mom as Kim is!

We headed to Duke Gardens to get some shots there.  It was harder than I thought to shoot in the shade, but you know how I do...still figuring it all out (lots of practice for this girl).

Please take a look at the cuteness...it might be too much to handle...

And that last one was (obviously) taken by Rae.  As you can see, I think the thrill of receiving candy had worn off and they were getting a little pooped!

Kim, thanks for bringing your cute kids for us to hang out with and take pictures of!  They were great fun (and great subjects!).

Oh, and for the record, the candy was good too...just take my word for it ;)

A Season of Birthdays

There are two seasons of birthdays between our two families.  The first comes in the spring, between April and May.  The second comes between August and September.  Then there are a few other birthdays sprinkled throughout the year.

We have entered the August/September season of birthdays!  Today we celebrated Donnie's birthday (it's actually on Wednesday).  Our celebration consisted of grillin' out, a Phase 10 game (I am the champ this time..woot woot), and cake!  It was good stuff :)

Like father like son, huh? :)

Marianne and Nate bought the birthday boy some tickets to see a band/group he really likes...here are the temporary tickets Marianne made until the real ones come.

Happy Birthday, Donnie Palmer!  We hope you have lots of birthday joy!

bunk beds

Anyone need any bunk beds?  Or know of anyone who needs some bunk beds?  We're selling them for $200.

Here's the rundown:
-solid pine wood
-good condition!
-safety rails included
-can be used two different ways (as pictured above)

Let me know if you are interested or hear of anyone who is!  Gracias!

Packages, Please!

Technology has overtaken my life (all of our lives!).  Facebook. Check. Blog. Check. Itouch. Check. Email. Check. Twitter. Nope. Smart Phone. Nope.  So there you see, I have succumbed to a large majority of all things technological.

However, I am still holding on to my old school love of SNAIL MAIL.  Or, good ole letters and packages retrieved from the mailbox.  And I'm not talking your email inbox, I'm talking that wooden box in your front yard.

Tell me it's not a good feeling when you open up that box (or someone brings in the mail) and see a package with your name all over it.  No bills.  No junk mail.  But "thinking of you" letters.  Or packages filled with love.  Ahh, what good warm fuzzies :)

And since I've had a good bit more free time on my hands lately, I've gotten into the groove of sending some snail mail out.  (I'm thinking, hey, since I love receiving, shouldn't I send too?  Gotta share the love!).  I'm having a blast decorating and pouring love into these packages which will be sent to surprised recipients.

So if you ever want to send us a package, or just a "HEY!" letter, feel free...we will likely have large smiles on our faces :)

P.S.--If you want to receive a letter, let me know that too!

Summer Pool Days

This is what a fun afternoon at the pool looks like...

I'm fairly certain if you let her, she would LIVE in the pool.  That is one pool-lovin' dog.

She's even learned how to get out of the pool all by herself...on the ladder.  We think it's pretty awesome ;)  Take a look at this video for proof...

A few note-worthy video parts:

1)  The impressive strength and ability of our pup

2) My cheesy "whooooo!"

3) Jason's goofy (and humorous) comment at the end

Wow...so great of Bella and soo, soo, terribly cheesy of us.  haha!

Sushi Lover or Not?

The other night we had a SUSHI DATE with Marianne and Nate (like how that rhymed?) :)

Here's the thing...I have tried sushi at least five times.  Each time I end up with the same feeling...YUCK!  It just doesn't tickle my taste buds.  My husband, on the other hand, LOVES sushi and could eat it at all times (practically).  I know many other friends and family members who feel the same way.  They love it!

So, my sweet sis-in-law, much to my excitement, made me my own bowl of rice and veggies.  It was delish and perfectly non-sushi-esque! I did try a sushi, though, and I can say in all honesty, that it was a better piece of sushi than some of the others I have previously tried.  Good job, M-Anne!

This, then, is my question:  Do you or don't you like sushi?  Are you a sushi-lover, or is it a no-go for you? 

I think I'll just stick to rice and veggies for now...

But if you ever see a sushi roll walking around town...it may just be my husband ;)

Mug-tastic

This is a recent project of mine...BUT, I was first inspired to make these mugs when I saw this post.

Alisa is an amazing artist and I am inspired by her work.  Thus, when I saw this post I knew I wanted to try my own hand at it.  The mugs I found at Michael's and the kit comes with 6 different porcelain markers.  I only used the red, blue, yellow, and black.  She used a fountain at an art gallery as inspiration.  I used her post and some scrapbook paper as inspiration.

I am pleased with the final result.  I wish I could say I came up with the idea for these, but alas, I did not.  Do check out her post to see hers--they're great!

Fun, huh!?  I love color and coffee--the perfect combination ;)

Photo Practice

Just for fun the other day, a few other Nikon-users and I got together to "shoot around" downtown.  We hit up Ninth Street and the surrounding area.

I'd have to say for me it was fairly unsuccessful.  I tried to shoot (mostly) on manual, but I was hoping for more creativity and originality on my part. And, well, it didn't quite end up like that...haha.

But that's ok...that's what practice is for, right!?

I did, however, get a few cute shots.

Here's to more practice :)  At least I'm having fun learning!