Maggie- our new addition

On Friday afternoon we adopted a new puppy from Lake Norman Animal Rescue. She was spayed at my vet clinic and was up for adoption. She is an Australian Shepherd Mix about 14 weeks old. She is incredibly smart and is learning quickly, although she always keeps us on our toes. The cats aren't too fond of her yet. They are curious and check her out, but she invades their space too much right now, but it will be a matter of time before they warm up to her.



We were out raking leaves today and she helped us out. We try to keep her active so that when she is inside she is staying out of trouble.

Saturday we went to a Marine Buddy Challenge that Matt participated in. Maggie spent the entire morning being doted on by people and kids of all types. By the time she got home, she passed out on the living room floor.


I am working on my certification for dog behavioral training- and well, this has been good practice and even challenging at times and it has only been 2 days.

And now some pics from the Marine Buddy Challenge - Matt & Mike representing CrossFit Charlotte

The First Snow of the Season

We had our first snow this season. It was a simple dusting but you'd have thought it was a blizzard by all the hype and school cancellations. It warmed up enough to melt most of it by midday but We enjoyed the snow since it was the small taste of winter that we have been looking for.




You can see that the snow didn't even stick to the streets. Thomas was off work and used his time to make the first snowmen he'd ever made as growing up in FL didn't bring much a chance for snow.


Matt said we might have another chance for snow this weekend and well, I am secretly excited.

Tagged...

I'm never one for these "surveys" but because I was tagged that was a bit more motivation :) And heck, it is procrastinating my need to clean the house. So Erin, this is for you!!!

I give you money and send you into the grocery store to pick up 5 items. You can only pick one thing from the following departments. What is it?
1. Produce: apples
2. Bakery: donuts
3. Meat: chicken
4. Frozen: pizza
5. Dry goods: cereal

lLet's say we're heading out for a weekend getaway. You're only allowed to bring 3 articles of CLOTHING with you. So, what's in your bag?
1. Jeans
2. long sleeve shirt
3. hoodie

1 task you wish you were better at doing?
1. praying

1 Celebrity you wish you looked like (silly, I know:))
1. Michelle Pfeifer

If I was to listen in on one of your conversations throughout the day, what 5 phrases or words would I be most likely to hear?
1. I love you (to Matt)
2. How was your workout? (to Matt)
3. Do you need any help? (to the vet at work)
4. What are we doing for dinner?
5. I'm tired

So, what 3 things do you find yourself doing every single day, and if you didn't get to do, you probably wouldn't be in the best mood?
1. checking email
2. Eating chocolate/ sweets
3. sleeping

What 5 places do you visit roughly every week?
1. gym
2. church
3. a grocery store
4. work
5. physical therapy

If you were to shop at three stores for a whole year to supply your wardrobe and money was not an issue, which 3 would it be?
1. Target
2. Banana Republic
3. Buckle

You just scored tickets to the taping of any show that comes on t.v. of your choice. You can pick between 4, so what are you deciding between?
1. Amazing Race (I'd just like to be on the show)
2. Life is Wild
3. and don't watch much else besides news
4.

You're hungry for ice cream. I'll give you a triple dipper ice cream cone. What 3 flavors can I pile on for ya?
1. Chocolate
2. Mint Choc Chip
3. Choc Chip Cookie Dough

Somebody stole your purse… in order to get it back, you have to name 5 things you know are inside to claim it. So, what's in there?
1. wallet
2. sunglasses
3. cell phone
4. check book
5. keys

If you could go back and talk to the old you, when you were in high school, and inform yourself of 4 things, what would you say?
1. Get more training in volleyball
2. Learn to enjoy who God created you to be
3. stop caring about what others think of you
4. be thankful for the sacrifices others have made on your behalf.

The 3000 Mile Road Trip

Our 3000 mile road trip started with an 11.5 hour drive from Charlotte to Steelville, MO to visit Audrey's family at her parents home. With our camera dying we didn't get too many pictures but we had to capture the favorite past time of chopping down trees and playing in the woods.

Matt chopping down a tree using an axe. It was part of his Crossfit workout.

Dana, Matt and Boyd try to take down a tree by some force of their own.


Audrey's mom lined us all up for our individual family photos...easier than trying to get everyone (all 25+) of us in one photo together.

After time in Steelville, we traveled 9 hours up north to Minneapolis to visit with Matt's family. I am not sure we were really prepared for the cold weather we experienced but we did get to take part in some winter activities we don't see much of in FL or North Carolina.


Audrey was tuckered after days of traveling and spending time with family. She crashed on the coach after opening presents.

Matt got Audrey a Nintendo DS for Christmas with the Brain Age game. Dominic and Jaden also each had one, so we were competing together on Mario Cart via wireless connection between them. They definitely had me beat.

We had the opportunity to go snow tubing while we were up in Minneapolis. It was a lot of fun but we got extremely cold very quickly. Below our some pictures.



We both had the opportunity to go snow shoeing which was something neither of us had done. It included some snow shoe running, snow ball fights, and lots of laughs.


Matt's sister, Annie, got a snowball to the face and the remnants of the snow stuck to her eye lashes.

Matt's mom on the right, with cousin Andy with Sam following, and Theresa and Lisa and Matt taking up the rear.

We ended our time in Minneapolis with a bonfire to warm us up amidst the single digit weather.


We had a wonderful trip and were blessed with great weather, safety, and so many amazing memories with our families. We don't have much going on for our New Years Eve except to recover from our long trip and get ready for 2008.

a SURPRISE Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, We decided to stay here in Charlotte and attempt to cook our own Turkey together with all the fixin's. Matt did an outstanding job of planning the entire menu and we spent most of the day cooking. Even though I was enjoying our time together and the time we had to relax together, I was missing our friends and family.

The SURPRISE came when my friend Katie flew up from Florida to surprise me for the Thanksgiving weekend. It was an amazing time. We had a lot of good laughs and no trip would be complete without at least one hike up a mountain.

Saturday after our hike, we cut down a Christmas tree at Penland Tree Farm in York, South Carolina. It wasn't very eventful since we arrived after hours, had to beg to get in, ran out into the field in the dark and cut down one of the first trees we saw, strapped it to the top of my car, and hurried home. You could tell we picked the tree in the dark b/c it looks more like a diamond than a triangle- but we love it just the same and it smells up the home wonderfully. Katie and I spent the rest of the weekend decorating it.

Below our pictures of our weekend!




My little helper who wasn't such a help. The threats of electrocution weren't making it through to her.


And the not so finished Christmas tree...I have since finished putting up the ornaments.
More pictures hopefully to come of Matt and I and the wishbone from the Turkey...

Yard Clean up

When we moved into our home, the back yard was cluttered with 15 years of underbrush, leaves, dead trees, stumps, vines, etc. I didn't take "before" pictures but this is after a full weekend of cleaning up yard debris which resulted in over 30 bags of leaves and huge piles of branches. But the results were exactly what we were looking for. We have big plans to hang a hammock and have a shade garden, bird feeders and bird houses, and just a shaded serene place to relax.

The pictures below are the one corner of the yard we cleaned up. There is plenty more to be pruned in other parts of the yard, so this is just the beginning.

This is the back corner of the yard looking up to the house which is slightly off to the right. Before we cleaned it out, you couldn't walk through it.

Our property is nearly 0.8 acres, and only a small part of it is fenced off, so the picture below shows the rest of the property beyond the fence that we plan leaving natural.


This is the debris we still have left to take to the curb for the garbage men. we are trying to place it out there in stages so they don't get completely overwhelmed. We have met more neighbors with all our clean up b/c they keep commenting on all our trash! It has become the common conversation piece.


Dad- this is for you... Matt has been chopping wood and even seeking out more dead trees on our property in order for us to build fires and stay warm while our heat is getting fixed. He even tried to stack it like you although I don't think I ever saw the measuring stick and not sure the dimensions are quite right for making a proper cord, but none the less, we are working hard to make you proud :)

And we even have kindling...and a few pencils- my specialty when chopping wood into splinters instead of logs.

Autumn colors and another Hike!

The fall colors are starting to appear here in North Carolina and so we took a hike over the weekend to check it out!! Matt came home this past weekend to surprise me and our friend Thomas is staying with us- so the three of us spent Saturday afternoon enjoying the beautiful autumn weather.
Matt and Thomas took time standing a top the giant rock for the ultimate view. My lack of grace is enough of an excuse to keep me from climbing too high upon rocks in which the only thing between me and and the ground is a couple thousand feet.

Thomas is deep meditation or maybe just trying to find the easiest way back down!

It was awesome to have Matt home this past weekend. WHAT an awesome surprise. We enjoyed our time outdoors and can't wait until his traveling slows down a little.

As you can see from all our pictures on our blog- our favorite past time is hiking the mountains in NC.