The ROTC Military Banquet and Ball

This past Saturday we attended my Neice Taylor's Military Banquet and Ball where we enjoyed a fabulous dinner and awards ceremony.  Taylor is the commanding officer of her ROTC High School group and she made her whole family extremely proud.  She was also nominated to be on the Royal Court so we were all hoping that she would be crowned Queen which she was!!  Taylor's name was called over and over again for every award or commondation that was given on this special night and at the end of the award ceremony she was promoted to Lieutenant Commander the highest rank that they have.  I am so proud of this exceptional young woman and look forward to seeing her continue to prosper in college this fall.  Way to go Taylor!!!

Great weekend with friends and Mother Nature!!

This past weekend we finally got to break out of the house.  The weather here in Tennessee turned warmer, the snow started melting and the skies were a beautiful color of blue. Work and life have been busy for all of us so our WONDERFUL friends Stephanie & Smiley suggested we hit the town Friday night and get something good to eat.  We had a wonderful evening...great food, & lots of laughs...we love hanging out with these two fabulously happy newlyweds.  Saturday we spent the day enjoying the weather and relaxing.  It felt so good to get out and not have to wear three layers of clothes.  Sunday Brian and I enjoyed a picnic by the Watauga River and then visted my sis.  Thank you Mother Nature for a much needed weekend enjoying your beauty.

Happy Anniversary & Musical New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve this year was fabulously entertaining.  Brian & I started out our special day celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary.  I am so lucky to have married my true soul mate and I didn't think it was possible to love him more than I did the day I married him but I swear I grow more in love with this man everyday.

Later that night I decided it would be awesome to call up all of my neighbors who play instruments and have a musical New Year's Eve.  Two text messages later I had 4 guitar players, 2 mandolin players, a harmonica player and singer/songwriters.  We all headed down to Ryan's area in the basement, fired up the PA System and the amps and had an absolute BLAST!!! We sang, danced, and welcomed in the New Year.  It was awesome and I can't wait to do it again.  I am constantly amazed by all of the local talent around here and so many who share my love for music.

A Fabulous Christmas

This Christmas was so much fun and the Lord truly blessed us with a wonderful celebration of his birth.  Brian and I really enjoyed our families and friends this year and our house was just filled with so much love and happiness which is what it is all about.  Our favorite gifts were my new thumpin' Kenwood car stereo with Ipod connection, an Apple Ipad, Wii games, clothes, jewelry and Ryan got a really nice PA System so now we can sing and be heard around here :)  We are all just big kids.  We wrapped up the festivities by taking Brian's parents to see the movie True Grit which was a GREAT movie and then Saturday night we had a house full of our closest friends from near and far we had a blast!!!  Sunday we woke to more snow!!!  I love it and can't believe for once we are having a white Christmas in Tennessee.  It's the first I can remember in years.  I know people say they are glad to see Christmas be over but I'm not.  I believe that if you are celebrating it in the right way, that is giving all of the glory to God and rejoicing for his birth, that you will experience the true meaning of Christmas and therefore enjoy all that this very special holiday has to offer.  I can see this in all of the smiles from everyone in the pictures posted here.  Look how happy all of us are.  Thank you Jesus!

More Pre-Christmas Fun

This past weekend was so much fun with Little Noah staying at our house.  We had a Pre-Christmas weekend with him.  I gave him a big helicopter & more blocks from Santa and we played and played all night into the next morning.  Saturday afternoon we went to the Christmas Parade where Noah collected all kinds of candy and waved to Santa.  This Monday morning we awoke to a winter wonderland of snow and after a brief attempt to get out we decided against it and stayed at the house.

Christmas Party fun with a BAD SANTA!!!

We had an absolute blast this weekend at my husband's annual company Christmas party with our buddies and a very naughty Santa Claus.  The food and refreshments were amazing, and the DJ was fabulous & everyone at our table were having way too much fun.  The lighting and everything about the ballroom was perfect.  I look forward to this every year and I must say this year was the best party yet!!!  Just sharing some pictures from our AWESOME night one I will definately never forget :) P.S. just a side note Amber and I both ended up getting our dresses at Dress Barn...you have to love that store...It's one of my FAVES so props to them for the fun, comfortable, festive dresses that we wore.

 Me & Amber

 Lee & Me

 Missy & Hubby

 Me, Naughty Santa & My Sweet Hubby

 Bad Santa & Amber :)

 Amber & Joyce with Santa

 Lee, Santa & Brian

 Santa is very bad with Lee

 Amber & Lee Cutest Couple I know

 Look it's a European Man Purse...Haa

 Me, Santa & Brian

 Brian & I at our house

 I love this man

 Me showin' some leg :)

My two favorite guys!!!

Pitbull at our local Flea Market

Had to share this story because I can hardly believe what I have heard and it infuriates me.  A friend of ours was visiting a local flea market over the weekend with his 7 year old son.  As they were walking through the young boy evidentally came up on some puppies that were being sold there.  All of a sudden the momma dog which happened to be a pit bull lunged at him out from under the table that was there and attacked this young boy for no apparent reason.  The dog ripped his pants and bit him on the leg & thigh.  Our friend tended to his son, tried to calm him down and checked over his wounds, by the time he looked up to try to find the owner of this dog the woman had taken the dog and run off.  Our friend quickly called 911 and luckily there were some paramedics already there and they checked on the boy while the father contaced the local police.  When the local police arrived they basically advised our friend that there wasn't anything they could do.  When our friend asked the officer, "What if this dog had chewed his face off or something?  or What if the dog has rabies?" and the officer got rude with him and said, "We are not in the what if game, we are dealing with the facts here and the fact is that we can't do anything sir."  These police officers are always giving out parking tickets in the parking lot every weekend but are now saying they can't handle situations like this.  Another officer advised our friend to contact another Sheriff's dept which happens to be in another county, and then was told by that county Sheriff to contact another county Sheriff.  The facts are that the original officers who responded had jurisdiction at this particular flea market yet they wouldn't help this man and his son.  On his own our friend was able to find out information on the woman and the dog from people that were there at the scene.  When the woman was contacted about the dog first she didn't have the dog, then later said it was her dog, when asked if the dog had it's current shots she said yes that she administered them herself, when asked for proof she said she bought the vaccine at a local store, when our friend called that store he was told that they do not sell the rabies vaccine there.  This dog should have been quarantined and watched for 2 weeks but now the dog is no where to be found.  Now our friend's young son will have to take shots for rabies which when all is said and done the treatments will end up costing our friend $9000.  He finally contacted a lawyer yesterday and was told that he would take the case and not to worry or try to make contact with anyone else regarding the matter. 

I am just beside myself and disgusted by the way this small town police department dropped the ball here and let this woman and her dog walk away scott free and the way they were rude and unhelpful to our friend and his son.  Also the owner of the flea market was rude when our friend contacted her to let her know about the incident and to tell her that there are dangerous dogs on the property.  So beware if you visit your local flea market.  There may be dangerous animals there that can and will attack you or your kids.  Don't assume you are safe or that the athorities in the immediate jurisdiction will help you because evidentally they don't have to.  Just makes me sick!

A Peeping Tom???? Really?????

My sister called me this morning to advise me on how no one in her house slept last night because evidentally they have discovered they have a peeping tom in their neighborhood.  I mean seriously...some idiot was dumb enough to go into their backyard, where there is a very large dog and go up onto the back deck and peek into my neice's window.  She had recently been having trouble with her blinds and wasn't able to fix them so when she went into the room last night and noticed a face in her window she immediately shoved pillows in the window to obscure the view and then she told my sister.  My sister went into to the TV room to tell my Brother in Law and when he went outside the dummy was still there and took off running.  Fortunate for the peeper he was able to out run Ed, who then got into his truck and drove around the area in search of the perp.  So what do you to if you discover you have a peeping tom?  I suggest investing in a trail camera one that hunters use to scout for deer.  We have a Wildgame camera at my house and it uses infrared technology to video or take pictures at night time.  The animal or peeper will never know it is there.  Get the evidence together and then Call The Cops!!!

Noah's 1st Program

So proud of little Noah...he had his first school program today. Watch his debut as Squanto!!!