Beach day!

A few weeks ago, we made our first trip to the beach in two years. Last summer, we didn't make it at all due to illness, injury, etc. so we were very excited to go. Especially because this time, we went with friends! We went with Adam and Mary to Topsail and we all had a grand time. The weather was perfect, the water was nice, it wasn't overly crowded, so we had a fabulous time.

Adam's first time in the ocean! I know, can you believe it?

30 Days: Day 11

Day 11: Another picture of you and your friends

Michelle, me and Bethany in Mr. Litizzette's classroom. Ahhh, good times.

30 Days: Day 3

Day 3: A picture of you and your friends

I need to take more pictures - this is from last January. I wish it was a more inclusive picture! :)

A-Camping we will go

Last weekend we went camping at Umstead State Park in Raleigh. It was perfect weather, high 85, overnight low of 68. We went with Adam and Mary and Ryan and Lindy and Lexi.

It was so nice and relaxing! We decided to go the lazy route and picked up some pizzas on the way. (Finally some more people that like pineapple!)

We set up our tents, Ryan built a nice fire, and Jeran hung up our hammock. We're definitely taking a stronger rope next time.

We roasted marshmallows and ate smores. I always forget how delicious they are!

We also played some games. We played card games like speed and played Personal Preference. We also played Liar's Dice, which seems to be becoming our essential camping game. Jeran read a lot of his book thanks to his handy headlamp. You really can't beat one of those for reading in the dark.

I slept pretty well - when camping, I'm bound to wake up no less than 7-8 times during the night, even with an air mattress. This time, each time I awoke, I forced myself to not open my eyes, check the time, or listen to the potentially scary noises of the night. So I slept very well by camping standards.

In the morning, we packed up and headed home for a busy Saturday. It's great having so many camping options so near!

Snow Days

We had a very fun and exciting weekend. Although we didn't get the 6"-12" of snow that was forecast, we did get a few inches followed by the right conditions to turn that snow into a hard shell on everything that wasn't immediately cleared off.

Church was canceled on Sunday and driving was discouraged (because a lot of the people here apparently are idiots when it comes to snow driving). We made lemons into lemonade and had a wonderful friends-, food- and fun-filled weekend.

We ate at Panda Express on Friday night and then played fun games at R&L's.

I didn't realize just how comprehensively I missed the snow until we were driving and fishtailed on a turn and the only thought I had was a wonderfully nostalgic thought along the lines of "Now this REALLY feels like home!"

Saturday morning, Jeran shoveled our sidewalk and then tackled our friends driveway and sidewalk with a square-mouth shovel. We had sausage egg sandwiches and muffins for breakfast at A&M's and then relaxed and played games.

We also got to play with the cutest baby ever (R&L's). She has learned lots of new things recently like crawling and grabbing anything that looks interesting. She had a hard time moving around on the hard floor though.

We also managed to fit in some homework, apparently unnecessary Sunday lesson planning, and a few other things around the house.

Saturday night we went to R&L's and ate delicious Hawaiian haystacks. We played Bananagrams, Pears in Pairs, Call of Duty (blagh), CatchPhrase, and Rock Band.

In CatchPhrase, the girls stomped the boys by being quick-witted and using ESP:

"Uh, This is something Michael Jordan did."

"Moonwalk!"

"Yes!"

"It's a baseball team."

"Orioles!"

"Yes!"

The boys lost. Example:

After having separately guessing the words "laser" and "beam",

"Now put the two words together!"

"Tractor beam!"

"No"

"Tractor light?"

"No no no! The other word!"

"Tractor beam?"

"NO! The word from before!"

"Uh.............."

BUZZ!

Sunday morning, I slept in since our 9:00 church was canceled. At 11:00, R&L and A&M came to our house for Sunday brunch (Biscuit cinnamon rolls, hash brown and sausage breakfast bake, and muffins). Then we relaxed, watched Johnny Lingo (two people had never seen it!) and one or two of the New Testament lesson supplement videos and played Risk. It was my first time playing Risk the real way and apparently it was a non-typical game, since it only took about an hour (with 6 players) with Mary dominating the world in a very small number of turns. I think I still prefer my made-up way.

Then A&M taught me and Jeran how to play Agricola. It was pretty awesome. And not just because I won. :) After wrapping your head around the complexities of the game and it's strategy, it is very fun and interesting and we had been wanting to learn how to play it for some time now.

So all in all, it was a very fabulous weekend. And the snow is still here on Monday - schools are canceled, garbage collection is delayed, etc. but it will probably almost all be melted after today. I can hear it drip, drip, dripping away outside right now...

Bethany visits us in NC

I am way behind in my blogging! Here is a recap of my friend Bethany's visit near the beginnning of June:

The first day we went to Raleigh to go to the Museum of Natural Science. They had an exhibit on the history of Chocolate that was very interesting. The rest of the museum was pretty good too. It was a little bit weird because some of the exhibits were live animals, some were fake, and some you couldn't tell whether they were alive or plastic for a very long time.

We also went to the Free Expression Tunnel at NC State. This is a tunnel where grafitti is permitted and free speech is encouraged. When we went there in the middle of the day, there was a group of kids from the YMCA having a spray-painting activity there, which I found kind of strange.

The next day we went driving through the pouring rain to go see some of the largest pieces of furniture ever. In Jamestown, NC there is a very large highboy chest of drawers that is many stories high.

There is another very large chest of drawers in nearby High Point, NC. We had a bit harder time finding this one, but eventually succeeded.

We also went to nearby Thomasville, NC - home of Thomasville Furniture - to see the largest Duncan Phyfe chair.

The next day we went to the temple. It was very lovely, inside and out.

That day we also went to Pixar's UP in 3D. It was a good movie, but seeing it in 3D is not worth any extra money. It doesn't add too much, but the movie was very entertaining anyways. That day we also went to a few fun places around Durham. We went to Locopops, which is an organic popsicle shop that has many fun and unique flavors, including many that combine distinctly mexican flavors with other flavors - like Lime Chili, Tamarind Lemonade, Cherry hibiscus, etc. I had Tangerine Pomegranite, which was very different, and Bethany had Chocolate Brownie. We also went to a Panaderia and got pan dulces which were delicious.

On Monday we went to the coast. We went down to Kure Beach and went to the Aquarium there.

We went to the beach at the state park and had a good time. The water is so warm and pleasant, minus the icky-bicky saltiness that always lingers all over you. We didn't get too sunburned, only a little bit here and there.

The last day, Bethany and I went to Duke Gardens. It was very pretty, as always. Then Bethany flew home again! Bye Beth! Thanks for visiting!

Easter Activities

Happy Easter!

Jeran and I did two different things Saturday night for an Easter celebration, of sorts.

Jeran cleared everything out of our shed/storage area and built new, sturdier shelves. There was a lot of stuff in there! This took him all evening but the shelves are marvelous!

















After helping with the shelves a bit, I went to a little Easter egg-decorating party. It was great. There were dyes, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, fluff balls, markers, etc. to decorate eggs with. Everyone did something different; there was a judge, a rabbit, the earth, tourists, a future self- portrait, and others. I decided to do a duckling. Or a chick. Or some sort of bird. Here it is:

Picnic Weather

This weekend has been so beautiful! Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all above 70 degrees and sunny. On Friday I wanted to work on fixing up the garden a little to get it ready to plant but after a few minutes I decided it was too hot. Sunday we went on a picnic at the park. We sat on a blanket and had sandwiches (thanks Ryan and Lindy!) and played Kubb (that lawn game where you throw the wood sticks at the other wood pieces). It was fun. We should have taken our camera! Agh! I need to get better at that.

My friends are amazing!

I was just thinking about what a talented lot of friends I have. I think they are all very amazing. What a variety of things they know and do! Among my friends are at least the following talents (sorry, family, you're sitting this one out - yes, I know you have talents too):

I have friends who:

• are very smart and excellent critical thinkers.
• have such lovely voices and sing so well.
• are amazing at science - both understanding and doing.
• are very good and interesting writers.
  
• are great mothers, husbands and wives; I love to see them interact with their families.
• are extremely talented artists in many mediums.
• are some very good cooks.
• are very good photographers and take wonderful pictures.
• are amazing on instruments like the piano, organ, trumpet, flute, drums, etc.
• are great planners and organizers.
  
• can do fabulous things with hair, makeup and fashion.
• have great conversational skills and are very good listeners.
• are very creative and crafty.
• are doctors and nurses (or are working on becoming one).
• are very athletically gifted at soccer, football, basketball, bicycling, etc.

Wow. This is why I love lists - its such an eye opener to see in one glance what amazing people my friends are. I'm so grateful I am able to know all these people! I love you guys!