A Wonderful Weekend

We had such a wonderful weekend with Jodi and Brayden!

They got here Friday afternoon and we went to The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Jodi's birthday.

We had such a great time, but we definitely missed Chad a lot!

This little guy seemed to have fun too!

We also introduced Jodi to fried macaroni and cheese....

She loved them so much that she got a burger with one on top of it...

It was delicious!!!  I ended up eating off of everyone's plate!  I just had to try a little bit of everyone's food.  Ha!

We also got cheesecake and the lovely wait staff sang to her....

I sang as well and hit a nice high note at the end!

We had two cheesecakes....

a peanut butter cup one and an Oreo one....

The Oreo was definitely my favorite!  It was amazing!

Brayden even got to taste whipped cream for the first time...

Here we are in the parking lot...

Then we came home for play time...

On Saturday we went to a wedding and enjoyed just catching up with each other.  We also had fun with this little guy...

I hated to see her leave this morning!  :( We had such a fun time and I miss them already!

Hopefully we will see each other again sooner rather than later! 

Lunch of Champions

I'm sitting on my couch with my best friend eating lunch....it's leftover cheesecake and kit kats!  It's a glorious day!

Happy Saturday!

My First Taste of Ecuador

These are the lovely ladies of my small group....or should I say large group?  Ha!

Every month we have a little International Party where we eat international food and pray for the nations.

This last month was food from Ecuador!

This was my first taste of Ecuador.  It was actually pretty tasty!  Here is my lunch below...

It's called lapaganchos!  Here's what was on the plate...chorizo sausage, steak, rice, a fried egg, potato pancakes with peanut sauce, and salad with lettuce, pickled onions, and avocado.

My favorite thing was the rice and the pico de gallo that isn't shown.  It was delicious!

We also got a free dessert, too!  This was a chocolate cake roll.

It was light, fluffy, and delicious!

I don't know if this kind of food will become my favorite, but it was a good change AND a fun meal with a sweet group of ladies!

Now I'm dreaming of pico de gallo,

The Preacher's Wife

Yard Saaaale!

We participated in our first yard sale together today!  We sold a whole lot of JUNK!

Here's my happy helper for the day...

We had a great turn out and ended up selling much more junk than I thought we would!

Here is our spread for the day....

and this...

We did so well that we went and bought a new toy!

Yup, a treadmill!  Happy Walking to us!

Now we're off to bed early!  5:45 AM came early this morning!

Love,

The Preacher's Wife

Topsail Beach Trip

Somehow I managed to score three beach trips in one month!  Needless to say, I'm not complaining.

Some of the girls in my small group wanted to take a day trip to the beach, so a few of us loaded up for the day and cruised out to Topsail Beach.

It was absolutely gorgeous there!  It is a smaller beach town and isn't a very touristy place.  It was adorable! There aren't any huge condo complexes or big hotels.  It's all of these cute little beach houses!  I loved it!

Here are my two partners in crime for the day...

Amanda and Mary Ann.  :) I love these gals! They were my roomies at the Women's Retreat at church.

It was a very picturesque kind of day...

We sat on the beach for a while and then we decided that it was time for ice cream!  I never say no to ice cream!  :)

We found an ice cream shop that was inside a putt-putt course and a bike rental store.  It was a very eclectic place!

Mary Ann found a hula hoop and showed us her skills...

Here is the little course...

We also went into several gift shops.  They were so cute!  Some of them had the most random stuff ever...like this shirt below...

I can just see Jon buying one of these for our future children one day!

After we visited a bunch of gift shops we went to another spot on the beach.  We sat our chairs at the edge of the water and enjoyed having our toes in the water and the sand.

Eventually we got hungry!  We ended up eating at a delicious restaurant in town.  I already forgot the name of it, but it was really good!

On our way to the restaurant we passed this cool boat storage place...

I think this is so neat, but I just don't think I would want to have the job of getting the boats down on the very top.

This was our view at the restaurant...

We sat outside!

I got this yummy chicken pita and a salad!  Both were delicious!  I'd definitely go back to this place...if only I could remember the name!  Ha!

After dinner we headed back to Wake Forest!  We had a wonderful sing-a-long and enjoyed views of the sunset.

It was definitely a fun girls trip to the beach!  I'm sad that Summer is coming to an end because I'd love to go to the beach again, but I sure am excited about cooler weather and hot soup!  Yum! :)

Love,

The Preacher's Wife

Pie in the Face

I got a pie in the face today.

It was for charity.

I'm still smelling whipped cream.

That's all for today!

Love,

The Preacher's Wife

Mi Hermana Came to Visit!

My sister came to visit a while back!  We had so much fun with her!

We went and explored the North Hills Shopping Center in Raleigh!  It's a neat place with all kinds of cute little shops.

We went in this one shop where we found a patriotic sheep.  I made Jamie pose with it and we sent it to our Mom because she loves all things patriotic!

This is part of the shopping center...it's a really neat place.

We also played a lot of dominos!  Jamie won....just so you know. :)

On Sunday we went took a picnic to the lake.  After we got done eating we say with our feet I'm the water while Jon fished.

I think we say there for a couple of hours...

It was fun to just sit an talk and watch the boats go by.  We honestly felt like we were at the beach because the waves were SO big!

Sisters!  :)

Later that night, Jamie opened up a House of Beauty!  Jon needed his hair cut so I showed Jamie how to cut it and then she went to town!  It was great!

We had a great time with my sister!  I'm always so glad when family and friends come to visit!  Now....who's ready to come for a visit?

Lots of Love,

The Preacher's Wife

Time in Tennessee

It's always fun to get to go back home!  We got to go back home in July for about a week.  We were so excited to get away from Wake Forest.  

I always get so excited when we pass the TN sign!  :)

We had a great time with my side of the family at the beginning of the week.

We spent a lot of time lounging in the pool, feasting on all of the meats that my dad had killed/caught, and if course, going to Hobby Lonby!

We got to go to my great aunt's house after church the Sunday night that we were there.  It was so fun to catch up with everyone.

Here's part of the gang....Linda was giving Jon a hug bye.  :) 

I was able to get to go through my great aunt's cookbooks while we were sitting around the dinner table.  I was thrilled and almost in tears when I came to this one...

Mama's Rolls!  This would have been my great grandmother's recipe!  It was so special to find it in Aunt Goobe's recipe book.  By the looks of the card, it must be a good recipe!  I cannot wait to try this one out.  

We also went fishing with my dad where he caught a crappie that was lthe size of a Marlin!  It was huge!

Don't you think he's just fancy with his hat and fanny pack?  I LOVE it!  :)

He does too!

This is one of my favorite pictures that I've ever taken....

My hubby and my daddy!  I love it!

A family friend gave my sister this weekly TV program from way back in the day.  She found it in a box of hidden treasures.  It was so neat to see because it was my granddad and great uncle's grocery store that they had in our hometown.  They had an advertisement right in the front of the program...too cool!

It was a very neat thing to see!

The second half of the week we spent at the lake.  

This guy was excited to drive a boat again...

I spent a lot of time with this little one...

and they both stayed glued to his side a lot...

especially this one...

They are cute together!

Off on a boat ride...

and she caught a fish...

and we played with sparklers!

It was a fabulous week at home! Fun times with our family!  We love them so much!  We're excited to go back soon!

Love,

The Preacher's Wife