It's a New Year

WOW 2010....I was first amazed back on New Years that it was 2010, and now I'm amazed at how fast it's going by! It's almost April!

So many changes have taken place in my life since last March...I can't even put them all down...it's amazing how God works in a life in only 365 days.

Pretty much the only thing I've been doing is school, school, school. I'm still at the community college, working hard to get as much done in my last two dual-enrollment semesters as I possibly can. This semester is packed full! I'm taking 4 classes, 3 of which tend to be quite time consuming and complicated, but I've held it down so far and am looking forward to finishing well (and just flat getting the semester over with!) I'm also looking forward to hopefully having easier loads after this...these 4 classes were ones I just had to have in this particular semester, so I had to stuff them all in or I'd have to do them next spring, which I'm hoping I'll be done by then. SO, hopefully it'll be downhill from here....HOPEFULLY.

Something that has helped me get through this semester and something I don't think I could have survived without is my lunches with my two amazing friends everyday. They attend the Technical Center right next door to TCC and my schedule just so worked out that I could eat lunch with them in their 30 minute lunch break every day! Those lunches help me get through each day of school...except Friday...because they don't have school that day..and who needs something to look forward to anyway on Friday..it's FRIDAY!!

Finally, daylight savings time came as well...and along with that, came the beautiful spring weather! There have been some random, rainy days thrown in there the past few weeks, but for the most part, it's been clear blue skies, sunny and 70. I couldn't ask for more! It's my favorite time of the year. The flowers are blooming, the animals start to come out of hiding from the winter months, everything starts to turn green and I absolutely LOVE IT! God is so good!

There's so many things about to happen in the next few weeks and I'll try to remember to write about them. Such exciting experiences!
I'm looking forward to a great summer working at Camp Charis again. After working this past weekend as a counselor for a weekend camp up there, it's got me yearning for the summer, and I can't wait!

Til next time!

-Bex

~*Isaiah 26:3-4*~

So much for that:

"will write tomorrow!" She said. . . YEAH RIGHT!
I don't know what happened to me. . . sorry. The sad reality is that I probably forgot I even had a blog so I failed to post and now it's been over 2 months! You'll just have to get used to it though. It's way too typical of me.

Oh Well. . .


For this post I'll go ahead and finish up the trip.





Sunday morning we went to church, saw the youth choir sing and the little kids sing (and one little boy in particular who decided that he might as well TAKE the stage while he was there. He proceeded to dance and stomp around all over the place while all the other munchkins were doing the little hand motions like they were supposed to. Who needs hand motions anyway when you can do your own dance?).
After church everyone (and I'm not exaggerating when I say everyone) went back to Aunt Judy and Uncle Moose's to enjoy a delicious Sunday lunch which apparently happens every Sunday. Mashed Potatoes, some more of that sweet corn, vegetables (fresh out of the garden I might add) and some more cobbler for dessert was just SOME of the meal. It was like Thanksgiving! And just to think that they do that EVERY Sunday! Wow!

After eating and eating, Cora, her aunt's little sister and I, decided to go for a horseback ride. We went outside to catch them and after chasing them back into the pasture when they got out, we finally caught the ones we wanted and proceeded to get them ready for the ride.



I rode a sweet little (fat) mare named Fawn. For some reason she had a bad reputation among everyone there, but she didn't give me any problems. She was a great ride!





We rode up the hill and attempted to get to the top of the bluff, but got way up the mountain only to find that we couldn't get there because for some reason horses can't climb rock-faces! Go Figure! So, we had to turn around and go back. But it was fun! :)

Later that afternoon, Uncle Moose took us on a ride to the top of the bluff. It's such a high hill and it was such a pretty view.


Then after going back down the bluff we went to see the Quarry. It was pretty cool!



This was some old rock grinding machine. Pretty cool!

When we returned, I took the four-wheeler up the hill to take pictures of the beautiful sunset. (Not that I didn't just want to ride the 4-wheeler of course. . .)


This one is most definitely my favorite :)


And this one runs a close second :)


CORRNNNN!!! Yummmmm :D




Then just as it was getting dark we got back in the truck with Uncle Moose and took a ride to go look for deer. We saw a BUNCH of deer and several with nice sized racks!

If you look VERY closely at this one you can see a rack on one's head



I especially enjoyed the little ones. :)

Babieeessss!!!

It was dark when we returned from that ride and so we went to bed because we were gonna head out early in the morning.

Bear with me here, cause I'm having trouble remembering much of this since it was so long ago....


Monday, we left early in the morning, and the sun rise was sooo beautiful! These SunRISE pictures are VERY rare for me, so enjoy it while ya can!


We drove and drove and went on down to good ol' Tennessee. We wanted to stop in Nashville so I could go to the Bass Pro Shops store! So, after driving around and around Nashville for about 45 minutes, we finally found the place.



I LOVED IT! Bass Pro Shops is officially my favorite store. :)

My new friend :)



He/she (whatever) liked me alot....or just thought I had food or something....


It's a good thing this isn't real, cause the floor would probably be wet under the guy...


I look high, but mom wanted to take my picture in front of the raccoons.


chk, chk...BOOM. Dead.


I wanted a hat, so after looking and looking for the perfect one, I finally found it.

AMEN brother!!...er...sister!! I REALLY liked this one but....

.....but I ended up with this one and I LOOOVVVEEE it!! :D

After leaving Nashville, we wanted to take the scenic route and go through Chattanooga to Atlanta. The mountains were so beautiful and they never cease to amaze me!

You wanna mow this hill?? ha! NOT MUA!!




Then of course, it started to rain just as we got into the mountain passes, the most beautiful part of the ride, so I couldn't take very good pictures. :/

So while I'm trying to make up for the rain with good pictures, my camera decides to only take the pictures when there's a billboard. Lovely.....

UGH!!


Just BARELY caught that one, but made it just in time! >:[


Oh look! Adoption!! Ugh...


And that's pretty much all that happened between there and home......except for my version of the license plate game that I made up where you had to find numbers and letters in succession on separate license plates......that got REALLY difficult when we had to start finding the 2-digit numbers like 11 and 12, but it definitely kept me occupied.


Till next time!! (whenever that will be)
Bex :)

Illinoisy trip: continued...

Well the thought of that peach cobbler made me hungry, but unfortunately, in the weeks that have passed since that post, I didn't get any cobbler until going to spend this past weekend at Camp Charis. So, now that I'm not salivating every time I read that post, I can post another one! :)

So, let me pick up where I left off...

After picking peaches that morning and peeling...and peeling...and peeling, that afternoon, the next task while the cobbler was being cooked was to make PIZZAS! No, it wasn't Digiorno, or Tombstone or Pizza Hut take-out. We made pizzas! From the dough on up. No store-bought NUTHIN here! Thankfully I am sitting here eating yummy pizza while writing this, so it's not making me hungry...

They were delish!



The wittle cheerin's played upstairs.




Cora and Uncle Moose putting the HOMEMADE salsa on the pizzas.


Then, after the salsa is evenly spread it gets all the cheese and fixins on top!





Some of the folkies there for the Pizza Party :D



And that was Saturday night! It was great fun! Will write tomorrow about the rest of the great weekend! :)

Illinoisy....well not really...

Maybe in Chicago...

Anyway, before I go too much into the meaning of Illinoisy, I'll tell you a little about our trip there, at the end of August. Not a whole lot...just a few highlights (mostly because I have about 200 pictures, and I love posting pictures, and if I don't say just a few highlights I'll end up posting about 100 of them...and that would take me just about forever...but, I digress...).




The first stop was a little town just outside Montgomery, Alabama called Millbrook where we stayed with some cousins (2nd cousins, twice removed, blah blah blah..) Technically they lived in Coosada, AL, but most of their neighborhood was in the Millbrook city limits except for that little corner of the neighborhood they lived in...very strange. There was even a little Coosada City Limits sign right there on their little neighborhood road.

Everyone looks so thrilled don't they?

We stayed with them on Thursday night and left the next morning for Illinois(y).

This was a pig outside of a Cracker Barrel somewhere in Kentucky...mom decided she had to have a picture of me with it, and considering it's concrete, I sat on it.

It was a looonnggg drive that day, but we finally reached Lick Creek, but after being there about 5 minutes, I left with my cousin to go to a rodeo in a nearby town. Yeehaw! I mean, can you believe I went to a rodeo? Me? No Way!! The rodeo was very fun...I just didn't realize there were so many rednecks up there...I mean, it's ILLINOIS. That is up in the north where yankees live right? Ya know, the hybrid-driving, apartment-living, city people that talk weird! HA! NOT HERE! I thought Wakulla County Florida had rednecks!
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, because I was so busy eating Nachos with cheese and watching bull riding and barrel racing that I didn't take any. Sorry.



The next day, we woke up and went to Giant City State Park which is not far from where Aunt Judy and Uncle Moose live (They're who we stayed with by the way..). I thought we were going down all the back roads to get there. Nice smooth gravel roads, but not paved. Turns out, that them is the main roads! Ooookayy..I thought I lived in the country. I mean, we live on a dirt road, but we do drive on nicely paved roads to get to town...ANYWAY.....






This is the lodge in Giant City that my Great Grandfather helped build. It was really pretty. I absolutely loved it.







This is a rock face called "The Devil's stand-table". Not far from there is what they call "The Devil's Footprint." If I didn't know anything about that place, it wouldn't really be a place I would want to live considering the landmarks named around it....



After we left Giant City, we stopped by a big Peach Orchard on the side of the road. We don't know who owns it, but Uncle Moose just happens to have the guy's number in his phone, and just happens to have crates in the back of the truck. Good Grief! The "back roads" and the rednecks made me feel like enough of a city girl already! It was starting to get ridiculous! This made me wonder if I should just carry a bunch of empty vegetable crates in the trunk just in case I stumble upon a peach orchard or a vegetable garden that I want to pick from.
Anyway, Uncle Moose called the guy (after we'd been driving around the orchard looking to see if the peaches were ripe enough) and he said that we could pick from the first 15 rows. Great!



So we picked....

Don't they look delicious??

And we picked.....

Aunt Judy



And we picked some more...

mom



And then after Uncle Moose was satisfied with the amount of Peaches, we went on back to the house.

Uncle Moose



As soon as we got there, we started peeling, so Aunt Judy could make some cobbler...OH MY GOODNESS....cobbler.


That makes me hungry....



to be continued.....

"It's Complicated"

...that's what CJ's relationship status would be if he had a facebook.

Yesterday I went to the pasture to fetch my grumpy little rolly polly ol' man horsy to go for a nice ride and since my horses are so photogenic, I decided to take some pictures while the sun was in a perfect place. I just can't resist! :)

On the left is Mr. Rolly Polly grumpy ol' man (aka: CJ) and on the right is My Beautiful Girl (aka: Cherokee).



Most people think I'm off my rocker, but I've always been a fan of horse behinds. There's just something so cute about them! Still haven't figured out what it is though...


While I'm busy trying to capture the cuteness of my horses' rear end's my Big Fluffy Ball of Love (aka: Spooky) was trying to play hide and seek with a lizard or a bug or something...

poor whatever it is...
For a small creature, playing hide and seek with him usually results in death.


Spooky must have won...





Then just as Pooky comes trotting triumphantly back up to me, I look at the horses again, and this is what I see...


He really does love her....a lot...but when you're old and grumpy, you don't really appreciate little munchkins in your face.
And trust me. She's ALWAYS in his face because that is her CJ...






...and he wouldn't hurt her if his life depended on it because that is his baby girl.




He just won't admit it because he has to maintain his manly posture.

He won't admit that he's a LITTLE on the chubby side either, but that would hurt his pride. what is it with men? (mom, that one was for you. :P )

shhhh...don't tell him I said that!