Vacay Pics Pt. 2

North Carolina is beautiful!  As we were flying in, I loved seeing all of the green!  It was wonderful - until we stepped off the plane and the humidity sucked all the life out of you within about 5 seconds. lol  However, we didn't come for the weather, we came to see family.  And THAT was awesome! 

On Sunday, we sat around visiting and talking more!  We also got to meet Ryan's cousin Laura's daughter, Tiffany.  The girls all got along great!  It was fun to see them all play and having such a good time together.





















I'm going to have to leave it at that again.  I'm supposed to be walking with some of the ladies from church in about 20 minutes and I'm not dressed yet! lol  So, come back later for some more pics!

Vacay Pics Pt. 1

It took me a couple of days but I have finally put all of our vacation pics up on my computer and I'm now ready to share some with you.  But it's late and so I'll just put up a few from the first day and the rest will have to come later.

We went back East to see Ryan's family, especially his grandma who just turned 85 this year.  Everyone EXCEPT HER knew that we were coming, so when we showed up, it was a huge surprise for her!  She took one look at Ryan and exclaimed, "What is this?!?!"  She was absolutely shocked - and thrilled!  Yay, mission accomplished! :)







We spent the evening visiting with Ryan's parents, aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandma.







Check back soon for more pics from our trip to the Carolinas.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good:

•Rori has been sleeping GREAT! Seriously great! She usually sleeps well, but this is probably the best she's ever slept before. :D

•I am going to visit a friend tonight! (And probably spend a lot of money on candles. lol)

•Breaking Dawn is 4 days away!!! I cannot wait! And here is a little spoiler (though, it's not as much of a spoiler as they make it out to be). I am seriously SO HAPPY about this! :)

•I've been working on getting all of our pictures on my computer and edited for the last two days and now I'm just uploading them to PhotoBucket. It'll take awhile, there are a few hundred. lol But SOON, I'll have some to post. :)

The bad:

•Rori and I took Ryan to the airport this morning. He's going to be in Massachusetts for the next week and a half. It's not really a bad thing; I'm glad he'll be able to spend more time with family and he'll also be with Cadi so she won't feel so homesick. But I'm gonna miss them both!!! :( I am not excited about the next week and a half alone. Stupid work not flying Rori and I out with him. :P But there is a lot I can and should do here so it's probably better this way. I hope Cadi's having a ton of fun! She did get to see some of DC (The White House and some monuments) and a little of NYC (Empire State building and Statue of Liberty).

•I have had a migraine for about 3 days now. *grrrrrr*

•I "get" to pack for a week of camping all by myself before Ryan and Cadi get home. But I guess that's okay since I like to be in control of packing things anyway. I just usually like some help.

The ugly:

•I'm determined to lose a few lbs while Ryan's gone. With just me and Rori, I have a feeling I won't be doing a ton of cooking, so I stocked up on salad stuff and fresh fruits and veggies. I know I can't drop a lot of weight in less than two weeks but I want to try to lose a few and just get some weight loss started so I can keep it up and then in a couple of months I will see a difference. I hope! lol

•Rori has been making this face; it's not really "ugly" but it sure is silly! She scrunches up her face and looks at you like either 1) she's mad at you or 2) she thinks you're absolutely crazy. It's a joke of her's. She'll make the face, hold it for a few seconds, then bust up laughing. lol It's hard to capture on film, but I'll see if we have a pic or two that come close.

So, stay tuned. Vacation pics are on their way!

Happy Bir - Wait! Hold that thought!

Today is Rori's 2nd birthday! But we're not doing anything. Poor girl, so unloved.

Nah. Actually, since Cadi's not here, we're going to wait until we're all together again before we have a party. Of course, that won't be for 2 weeks. And then we'll be camping for a week. So... her party will be about a month late. It's a good thing she's two and has no clue. :)

We sure do love her though! Just a few minutes ago, she had a toy microphone and was singing "I am a Child of God" into it. So cute! She's been very sweet lately. (Maybe she does know it's her birthday and is trying to make sure she's on our good side to get more presents? lol) Ever since we got home, she has been lovey and sweet and cute! And she's slept WONDERFULLY!!! I'm loving it!

Aurora is a busy girl but she can also be such a sweetheart. She loves music so much and it's so cute to watch her sing and dance whenever she hears it. This morning we put on a video of Cadi's last piano recital and Aurora came running up to watch it, calling "Cadi!", and then started dancing around to the songs. She's pretty smart, too. She is always trying to figure things out. It's great... until she's figuring out how to reach something she's not supposed to get. lol Whenever she sees a baby, she says "Awwww" and she loves animals. Her hugs are super sweet and even though her kisses are sometimes sloppy, they are pretty sweet too.
Happy Birthday, Aurora! We love you!

The Hardest Day

We've had a great trip and it's almost over. Today we'll go back to North Carolina to stay one more night with Ryan's aunt and uncle and then tomorrow we have a very long day with a long flight back home. But today is the hardest day.

This morning Cadi left with her grandma and grandpa. She gets to spend the next two weeks with them in Massachusetts. They are going to have so much fun! On the way up, they are stopping by D.C. and then NYC. I'm a little jealous. lol But I'm really sad! I miss Cadi! Two weeks will be the longest we've been apart. It's going to be hard!

On Tuesday, Ryan will be going to Massachusetts for a business trip and staying with them, too. Then at the end of the two weeks, they will fly home together. I'm not looking forward to them both being gone. It's bad enough having just Cadi gone. :(

But I'm glad she'll have the opportunity and I hope she has a lot of fun. I think she will! :)

Our trip here has been great. I can't wait to get all the pictures up. Last night we had dinner at Suzie's house with her hubby and kids. It was a great visit and we wish we had more visiting time with them! Rick made salmon and I was polite and tasted it. It wasn't too bad! So, I ate a little. They knew I didn't like seafood, so they made chicken for me (and Susan, she doesn't like much seafood either) and I did like the chicken much better. But I was excited that there was a fish that I tried that I could actually eat. Yay me! lol
I'm not sure what time we're leaving today. Checkout is noon but we may hang around til mid to late afternoon. It's only a 4 hour drive back to Charlie and Margaret's house. I'm not really in the partying mood now that Cadi's gone. It's hard to get excited about doing anything here if we can't do it with both of our girls. But we'll find something and have a nice time. We'll do our best to wear out Rori so she sleeps most of the way back. ;)

Myrtle Beach so far...

We are having so much fun here!

Yesterday we played at the beach.  The water was so warm!  I've never been in ocean water that warm before.  Well, maybe in Jamaica.  It was great!  Then we cleaned up because Suzie also got us tickets to see Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede.  Think Medieval Times but more on a kid friendly level and southern country themed.  It was fun, Cadi loved all the horses, of course.  Afterwards, we hit the outlets. :D

Susan has uploaded a few pictures to her ShutterFly account.  I'm going to try to put the link here but I'm not positive if it's a public account or not, so the link may not work.  If that's the case, I'm sorry and you'll just have to wait until I get home.  The first 7 pics are taken in our suite, then there are a couple from yesterday at the beach and one of Cadi by one of the horses before the stampede show, the rest were taken in North Carolina when we totally surprised Ryan's grandma by showing up!  (The last 3 were taken at a children's science museum in North Carolina.)  Here they are!

Kings and Queens for a Day (or two, or three!)

Cousin Suzie hooked us up!!!

Ryan's cousin manages the Sheraton here in Myrtle Beach. It's two blocks from the ocean. She set us up in the PRESIDENTIAL SUITE!!! THANK YOU SUZIE!!! The view is gorgeous, the rooms are wonderful, and we are THRILLED!

Everyone's changing into their swimming suits and then we'll be out having some FUN! We'll take a ton of pics (I've already taken a bunch of our rooms. lol) and I'll post them when we get home. :)