Monday, August 27, 2007

Sharpie 500 slideshow

I found this new feature on Picasa, and I thought I would try it out. These are all 72 pictures that we took while on our trip. Enjoy!

Sharpie 500 at Bristol, TN

WHAT A WEEKEND!!! Andy and I had an awesome experience this past weekend! We were given an opportunity to attend the Sharpie 500 in Bristol, TN!! We had such a fabulous time!! We got to go as guests of Alltel. The only thing we were responsible for was the trip out there and back home. Alltel gave us hotel accomodations, bus ride to and from the speedway, tickets for the race, track passes, and much more!! We were treated like VIPs, and loved every minute of it! I don't know that we've ever been catered to that much.

Because we were guests of Alltel we were in the Alltel suite. This is a view of turns 1 and 2 from the suite. We arrived at the speedway around 12:30pm. The suite opened at 1pm, and the race didn't start until 8pm. So this was taken when we first arrived at the suite. If you look closely you can see that they are bringing the cars out to get ready for the race. The crew spent all afternoon working on those cars to make sure they were in racing condition.

We were allowed passes to the track, so this is taken of the grandstand as we entered the track right on the start/finish line!

Here are Andy and I standing on or near Turn 1. Yes, we are actually on the track!!! The temperatures were in the mid-90's, so it was pretty hot! Believe it or not I endured all this being almost 8 month pregnant!! Thankfully there was a little bit of a wind, so it was bearable--even for me. :)

One of the drivers Andy likes to watch is Matt Kenseth, #17. This is as close as we were allowed to the cars, but it's closer than we've ever been before!
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Monday, August 20, 2007

Anne Loses Her First Tooth!


Anne finally lost her first tooth last night. It has been loose for quite some time. A permanent tooth was already growing in behind it, pushing her two front bottom teeth forward. The tooth to the right of the gap is loose as well. The girls' first dentist appointment is September 11. Anne is really excited about it!! Anne was also excited to find two quarters in place of her tooth under her pillow this morning! :)
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Bathroom Remodeling Update!

Here are some updated pictures of our master bathroom. I'm so excited about how much progress Andy made over the weekend. He has also started the backsplash around the vanity.

Here, the vanity is back in, and the new counter top is on.


We added some decorative tile to spruce up the new corner shower. It is the same tile that will be used as the backsplash around the vanity.


The new ceramic floor and white trim. Andy did such a fantastic job!!
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Happy Birthday, Courtney!

Yesterday was my niece, Courtney's, 7th birthday!! She is my brother, Justin's, oldest daughter. She's turning into such a beautiful young lady! Since it was raining the kids couldn't play on the water slide this time, but I think everyone still had a good time. It's always good to get together with family and friends.
Just before blowing out the candles.

Awesome smile, Courtney!


From left to right: Justin, Garret, Stephanie, and Courtney
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Thursday, August 16, 2007

A Couple of Funny Videos!

A friend of ours sent these videos to us via email today, and I couldn't resist putting them on the blog. I needed a good laugh today. Even though we are home schooling, the girls still needed to get their shots. I took them this morning, and they each had to get four--two in each leg!! I was about ready to cry with them. Anne was a trooper! She only wimpered. Naomi was a little different story. :) They both said they definitely didn't want to go there again! When I told them we'd have to take the new baby sometime after she is born they were both horrified. Thankfully I took them to the county clinic instead of our own doctor. I'd rather them have an aversion for the county clinic than our family doctor. So after all of that I welcomed the laugh these two videos brought. What's even more is that Naomi and I are going to make brownies tonight!! HA!


Of course, I laughed more at the Math911 because of my middle school math background!!
Enjoy!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Awana Party!

Tonight was an Awana party at our church. They provided games galore, face painting, an inflatable slide, and an inflatable moon jump. The girls had a blast!! They had to stand in line for a while to get their faces painted, but they thought it was worth it. :) Having games available for the kids also enabled the parents to get all the pre-registration done. I thought it was a great idea!
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Friday, August 10, 2007

Trip Down Memory Lane

Since yesterday marked 10 years for Andy and I, I thought I would reminisce a little bit. These, of course, are wedding pictures taken on Aug. 9, 1997. Andy kept saying yesterday that he couldn't believe it has already been 10 years. He couldn't think of anything he had stuck with for 10 years consecutively. :)

We were so excited for this day to finally come!! We had endured a long distance relationship for 4 years while Andy was in the Navy, stationed in Connecticut, and I was in college in Bolivar, MO. It's amazing to think about where we started at the beginning of our marriage and where we are now. Being married can be tough, but also so rewarding. I wouldn't have it any other way! I look forward to seeing what the next 10 years bring.
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Happy 10 Year Anniversary!

Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary!! Sometimes it's hard to believe that it's been 10 years!! We are celebrating tonight by going out to dinner and a movie. My mom is going to keep the girls for the night, and they will have a great time with her.


This picture was taken yesterday, Aug. 9, 2007.


These are the flowers that Andy brought home for me. Aren't they BEAUTIFUL!! I'm not sure what kind of the flowers the tall green ones are, but they smell heavenly. If anyone knows, please clue me in. :)



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Monday, August 6, 2007

First Day of School!

Today was the girls' first day of home school. Usually I don't fix their hair when we are just staying home, but they insisted for school. :)
Here Anne is working intently on cutting out pictures of the water cycle for the science portion of her lessons today.
Naomi is showing off her work. We are focusing on letters, and this is A week.
The whole experience today was rather interesting. Anne has quite a bit to do with her Sonlight curriculum, but Naomi's activities aren't that time intensive. We were done with Anne's activities in a couple of hours. Naomi was not happy that her lessons were done before Anne. Plus, Naomi likes to try to do things her own way--not necessarily the way the directions are written. :) This first week will be pretty experimental to try to find a routine that works for all three of us. So far, so good, though.
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Sunday, August 5, 2007

Party Weekend!!

This was a birthday bash weekend for my two girls. First, they went to a princess party on Saturday afternoon. They got to wear their princess dresses with tiaras. My digital needed charging so the pictures I have are on my 35 mm. Sorry I won't be able to post those at this time. Then today was my nephew, Garret's, 5th birthday party. Garret is the son of my brother, Justin, and his wife, Stephanie (pictured below).

The always fun picture of catching the birthday boy while blowing out his candles. :)
Here is my brother, Justin, and Garret--his Mini-Me. :)
All together it was a fun weekend!! Happy 5th birthday, Garret!! We love you!!
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Wednesday, August 1, 2007

The FINISHED main bathroom! :)

Here is the main bathroom. Again the pictures were a little difficult to take because of the narrowness. It is very neutral, but that was planned. The ceramic tile and wall color will also be done in the 3/4 bathroom.


We took off the old marble looking formica and replaced it with a different look.

I love how the ceramic tile turned out. Andy did a fantastic job!! The only thing I was really responsible for was priming and painting the walls. :)
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Remodeling Bathrooms!

We have been remodeling various rooms in the house to get it ready to sell. We started with knocking a wall out in the living room, changing the paint color, and putting up white trim. Then we started on the two bathrooms. The pictures below are of our 3/4 bathroom in the master bedroom. We gutted the whole thing out. The only pieces that will go back in are the toilet and sink/vanity.

The shop vac is where the sink/vanity will go. We will change the light fixture to a more updated one. The focus of all our remodeling is updating the look.

There used to be a wall between the new corner shower and the drain for the toilet. We enjoyed knocking out the wall in the living room so much that we knocked one out in here as well. The bathroom is pretty small so now with the wall gone it feels a little bigger--hopefully that will help it sell!

This is the new corner shower. I'm so excited with how much it improved the look and feel of the bathroom. It was difficult to get good shots of this bathroom because of it's small size. Andy has already textured the walls. Now I get to prime and paint before he puts in the ceramic tile, toilet, and sink/vanity. I'm so excited that this bathroom is almost complete! We've been down to just the main bathroom for all of us since the beginning of May, I think. :)
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