Family Farm Day!

Yesterday was yet another great family spent day! With Uncle Brian, Aunt Chris and cousin Hollyn in town from Philly, we all gathered at Aunt Pam and Uncle Bill's farm for a family cook-out! All the local family was there and it was a very exciting day! With Aunt Chris growing up in the city, she's never experienced a real farm before...what a treat for her! We got to see the cows, the miniature horse-Annie, and then we all took a hayride over to Cousin Craig's house to see the goats and chickens! It was great to see everyone again and see all the little kids play together.
The weather was perfect....what a great way to start off the holiday weekend!

The Cows

Bella getting the courage to pet one!

Uncle Brian, Hollyn, and Bella checking out the baby calf

Bella petting Annie, the miniature horse

Time to Swing!

The guys: From the left-Kevin, Uncle Ted, Chris, and Dad

Cousin Craig-great grillin'!

Little Kailyn

Bella swinging on the big girl swing

Hollyn-she wasn't feeling good! :-(

Jen and Bella getting pushed by Uncle Bill...Jen, don't drop Bella!

Kevin and Chris being goofy!

Load up on the Hayride!

Waiting for the ride to start

We got our seats! :-)

The chickens at Craig's house

Kailyn and her daddy-Rob feeding the goat

Bella LOVED the goats, so much...she wants one!

Bella petting a chicken

Chris's first time petting a real live chicken! She was a little hesitant, but she did it!

Bella checking out the goats little shelter

We all felt like we were a tour group! :-)

Hollyn and Jennifer

Family-From the left: Bevan, Becky, Willie, Brian, Diane, Mom, and Jen

In Memory Of.....

As you all know, I was in the military as well. While you're in the military you make great friends, but once you've served in Iraq...you've make lifelong relationships! While I was in Iraq, I became very close to a particular Sergent. His name was Staff Sergeant Greg Stancil. I'm sad to report that during his second tour of Iraq, he did not make it home!
Greg was an amazing person and a genuine Sergent. He truly cared for his soldiers and did everything he could to help them. Sometimes, I think if it wasn't for him, I don't know if I would have emotional ever made it over there. Once returning home in Colorado, Greg and I remained great friends, Chris and him got close also. Greg shortly moved onto another duty station out in Washington State. Once I decided to get out of the military and moved back to Ohio, we still stayed in touch. Sending emails and phone calls every few weeks, kept us close.
This past February, Greg left Washington with his wife and 3 kids and journeyed over to Germany. By May of '08 he was back in Iraq.
I received the devastating phone call earlier this afternoon from his wife. She was very sad to report that Greg was struck by a mortar attack. At that point he wasn't okay, but he was alive. The doctors had to amputate both of his legs, but he was in stable condition. Early the next morning, Greg went into cardiac arrest and they could not revive him. I'm sad to say he passed away on August 19, 2008.
Even though I hadn't seen Greg in a few years now, I still considered him a great friend of mine. I could talk to him about anything and he always had the best advice. I'm truly going to miss him, but I know God's watching over him now. I also know that when Chris deploys, Greg will be watching over him for me!

Finding Some Holes....

As you all know, Chris and I have been having a mouse problem. Well, we've only caught one and we're hoping that was it. Yesterday, my dad came over to do some investigating. We thought they were maybe getting in underneath the deck. My dad was brave enough to crawl under there and see. UGH, no holes....so we go in the basement, hoping we'd see something in the 'creepy room'. Finally, we found a couple, but we're not sure if they were the source or not, but we plugged them up anyway. Keep your fingers crossed that our little friends moved on!

Underneath the deck! Isn't is gross...the old owner's obviously didn't care!

Dad's braver then me....you couldn't pay me to go under there!

Dad and Chris checking out the holes and vacuuming up their 'home'!

One possible hole!

Plugging the other possible hole!

Thanks Dad, once again, for your help! Hopefully I'll see no more mice! :-)

Just Me & Bella!!

I had been promising Bella that we would have one of our 'slumber parties'(I've been promising the parents too)! Well, finally last Friday was the night. Bella came over right after I got home from work, mom and dad couldn't wait to get out of there! So once they left, so did Bella and I. We headed to Micky D's for some dinner. Bella was such a great eater that I decided to also treat us to some DQ! After getting our belly's full, we headed home and popped in a movie, Enchanted. For those of you that haven't seen it, it's very good and really cute! :-) After the movie was over it was off to bed.
I was thankful that Bella slept all night, but I was not too happy that she was calling for me at 6AM! It was okay though, we were getting up at 7 anyway to head to an appointment I had. After the appointment we came home, bathed, watched some cartoons (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse of course), played with Zoe and waited for Daddy.
I had a great time and I love mine and Bella's slumber parties. For those of you that don't know, one of my favorite past times is spending time with that little girl. She's absolutely amazing and she always brightens my day.

Bella, you know you're always welcome for a 'slumber party'! :-)

Sitting outside of DQ!

MMMmmm, this is good! :-)

I get my own big cup!

Ugh, Zoe....can't you move over?!

Okay, fine....you can lay on my head!

Zoe & Bella LOVE to play together!

What a great picture of Aunt Jewwy and Bella! :-)

I love you Bella xoxo

Congratulations Chris!!

Chris is finally home!! I picked Chris up Saturday evening at Cleveland airport. I was SO excited to see him. Even though we're away from each other a lot, it never seems to get easier. In fact, even though he was only gone this time for 2 weeks, it felt like 2 months! We missed each other so much and I'm just glad he's home.

While Chris was away in school, he'd keep me updated on how things were going! On Friday, he graduated from WLC (Warriors Leaders Course). He's officially a Sergeant....YAY!! From my understanding, Chris did a great job. He passed all courses and clearing a 90% in most sections. He passed his second PT test (physical training), which I'm very proud of. Chris has been injured for some time now, making it hard to do physical activity, so passing that was a huge deal to him!

Congratulations Chris, I'm very proud of you!!

I Finally Caught One!!!!

I'm glad to report that I caught my first mouse!! :-) Like I said before, I'm very obsessed with checking the traps, well, Friday was the day. I noticed in the morning, but already running late for a doctors appointment and getting to work, I left it there! I know, you're thinking how gross! But no worries, it was in the trap that is concealed. I figured one short day wouldn't make the house smell....which it didn't. Once I got home Friday, Kevin was there and helped me dispose of the small baby. He shook it out and we threw it in the trash can in the garage. I'm still a little worried though, because the one I remember seeing was a little bigger then this one. My point....there's more, I'm sure of it!

The trap that did the job!!!

Our Visitor Update!

Well, I'm sad to report that we haven't caught anything yet! :-( I can say that I'm obsessed with checking the traps. I guess the idea of a dead mouse in my kitchen is something I'd want taken care of immediately!
So yesterday when I got home from work, as always, I checked the traps....Nothing! As I looked closer to the one in between the stove and the cabinet, I see that ALL the peanut butter is gone! I go to check the one is the basement, since that's where they live, again....ALL of the peanut butter is gone. The worse part, the traps never went off and they are still in my house!
We'll be trying different reinforcements in the next couple of days....stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed that we catch something! :-)

Unwanted Visitor!!

As you all know Chris is out of town until next weekend. So Friday night I was enjoying a quite evening at home catching up on some TV shows I recorded from the week. All of the sudden out of the corner of my eye, I see something. Not knowing what it was, I get up to investigate. I'm slowly walking into the kitchen and turning on the lights....I don't see anything. Then I walk further into the kitchen and around one of the corners was a little mouse, just sitting staring at me! At this point, I have no idea what to do, I'm shaking so bad I can't think and my pulse was about to jump out of my throat. Before I could react it ran right in between our cabinets and our stove!
Of course freaked out, I immediately called Jennifer and Kevin and wanted Kevin to come over to move the stove and see where it may have gone. They get to the house, we move the stove, and of course....there's a hole! Not really being able to do anything, I calmed down (after awhile) and retired back to the couch.
The next morning, my dad called me and said he was on his way over to help set some traps. Thank God for my dad!! Once my dad came over and started to try to find out where they were coming from (and I say they because there's never just ONE mouse), we thought no other place then the basement. Sure enough, he found their home! We have a bathroom in our basement and along the wall are cabinets that lead into a storage like area. It's dirty, dark, and gross... and for that reason it obviously doesn't get used (hoping to change that one day). So not wanting to disturb anything yet, he set the traps.
If anyone has any other suggestions to get our little furry friends out, PLEASE let me know (Melissa?? :-) Keep your fingers crossed that I catch something!

Trap in the corner of the kitchen

In between the stove and the cabinets

Creepy, gross, cabinet area in the basement: this is what we think is their home

Trap right underneath the 'nest'

Happy Birthday Dad!

I wanted to wish my dad a very Happy Birthday (Aug. 5Th)! I'm sure you all know by now how close I am with my family. My dad and I have always been two peas in a pod. I'm defiantly 'the son he never had'! Growing up I was mostly a tomboy, always wanted to be with dad. As I got older, I may have gotten a little more 'girlie', but wanting to hang out with dad never changed! A lot of young girls are very close with their dads, 'daddy's girl you might say, but once they grow up they may not be as close. Not me, I feel very lucky to still have that close relationship with my dad. Even though I'm now a grown woman, I can still go to my dad for anything. If it's something I need handy experience with, or a silly questioned answered, or just someone to sit and talk to....I know my dad will always be there. So no matter how old I get, I'll always be your little girl, your baby!

I love you daddy and hope you have a great birthday! :-)

CHEERS....

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Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun!!

With Chris out of town, what's a girl to do?! Have a girl's night out with her friends of course!
This past Saturday night, I went out with Cassi and some friends from my previous job, to downtown Cleveland. Since Cleveland is about a 50 minute drive from our house, we don't get to go down there very often. So it defiantly was a treat to go down and enjoy the night life!

All the girls, from left to right-front row: Angelique, Sharon, Cassi, Michelle

Back row: Cheryl, LaTosha, and Me

The greatest of friends....love ya Cas! :-)

Girls getting crazy on the platform!

Michelle & Cassi (cousins) are defiantly getting down to the beat! :-)

Showing everyone how it's done!

LOL, Michelle is too funny1 :-)

I miss my SIRVA buddies!

Tosha is probably the funniest woman I've EVER met! :-)