Trip down Memory Lane...

I was just looking at some old photos of Chris and I today and I came across these. I used to be such a chub! Check out how my belly goes OVER my diaper :)

Our children are doomed to be huge! :) Chris looks like he's about to break this chair!

I think this is about 3rd grade... I was still trying to figure out how to smile! This is the same year Chris and I both moved to Waycross - lived a mile from each other - went to the same school - the same church - the list goes on and on....

There's my cutie pie! I think he was in about 3rd grade in this picture. You can clearly see why he was such a heart breaker at Memorial Drive Elementary!

LADIES NIGHT at Vinings Lake

We had such a great time at Ladies Night last night at my church, Vinings Lake. We had a great speaker, a yummy dinner, and a bridal fashion show :) Check out some of these pix :)

The Fish Funeral

So, our sweet little fish, Campbell died tonight. Bless his little fish-size heart.

Campbell was very special to us. A few years ago, when Chris got this crazy idea to start a salt water aquarium, we went to the fish store and got a few little fishies. Our great friend, Jeremy Campbell, was going Iraq in the Marines the same week that we got him, so that is how he got his name. A few months later, Chris' room and aquarium got too hot and ALL the fishes in his aquarium DIED... all except Campbell! It was a miracle! He has lived for more than three years... which is pretty impressive for a salt water fish.

Anyway, after Chris found him tonight, we just couldn't bare to flush him. So, we found a very special plastic baggie and we had a short funeral and burial service tonight in our front yard where all our pretty flowers grow in the summer. (We couldn't bury him in the back yard because our dogs would dig him up and eat him.)

Here is Chris holding poor little Campbell before our burial service.

We will never forget Campbell Hopkins Hull. Rest in Peace little fishie. I know you're in Fish Heaven now looking down on us.

Here is Chris making a special 6 inch hole for Campbell's grave.

And here is our cross grave we made specially for Campbell.

Easter Weekend in Waycross

This past weekend we went to Waycross for Easter! I was DEFINITELY in my happy place! :) I laid out by the pool all day Saturday and after church and lunch on Sunday. Going to Waycross is like vacation for us.... SO relaxing. Grandpa Hull and Aunt Phie from Indiana were there, so it was fun to see them. And of course, Baby Campbell was there :) She is so precious. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

To the Right is Grandpa Hull, Chris' Dad and his brother Jeff. His youngest brother, Scott, was at Spring Break this weekend.

And below is of course the highlight of the weekend :) Baby Campbell!

Strangest Post Office Visit EVER!

So, last Friday, I went to the Post Office to get some stamps for some post cards I'm mailing out for work. So, I went to the Smyrna one since I was in the area for a concierge visit.

I walk in and get in line behind one other man. Another man was writing the label for a package he was sending. And two men were up at the counter getting things. Well, one man who looks like he was possibly living on the streets comes in the door and walks right up to the man at the counter (while another customer is already being helped) and waves a $100 bill in the air and wants to know how much a book of stamps is! The man behind the counter tells him he will have to wait at the back of the line and points to me. Well, the crazy man walks back and stands right in front of me. So, I obviously back up. Very willing to let him get in line in front of me. Well the man that was at the side counter filling out his label walks behind me and I give him kind of of a "OK - this man is a little scary" look. He returns the look and stands behind me. The man at the front of the line immediately offers the crazy man his place in line and the crazy man doesn't say anything, just moves around and stands in front of him. So, he gets his stamps with his money and walks out. - That's the end of that part of the story. It was just weird. Well, the other part may be even more strange.

The man that came and stood behind me, looked down at my slipper shoes and said that my lace was untied and that I was going to fall on my face if I didn't tie them. I told him that they got untied earlier in the day and that I couldn't figure out how to tie them back (it's like one of those ballet slipper-type shoes and it just has two strings that form into a bow -but one is longer than the other). So, I told him I was planning to just cut it off later that day cause I couldn't figure it out and how to make it stay a bow. And he said that he had daughters and he could probably figure it out for me. So.... after a little consideration and with 5 other people inside the post office looking at me like, "What are you going to do?" I slip my shoe off and hand it to him. He takes it to the counter and starts working on it. Well, in the mean time, the man in front of me went to the counter and did his business and it was my turn. So - without one shoe on, I HOP to the counter at the post office! So, I hop on over and the man at the counter looks at me like I'm NUTS and asks "So, what do you need besides a shoe?!" Everyone kind of laughed and I tell him what I need and gets the stamps together for me and then the other man who was fixing my shoe throws it back to me and asks if it was OK. It still looked stuipd and like he had just double knotted it 5 times... but whatever. I says thanks, put my shoe on, and run out of there. I can tell you that that will be my last visit to the Smyrna post office. And I am going to cut the strings off my shoes. And every time I use one of the 500 post card stamps I bought, I am reminded of my crazy 10 minutes inside the crazy post office in crazy Smyrna! :)

Last Monday, a little doggie named Harlee came into my life!

So, last Monday, Chris and I both had a pretty terrible day. Something terrible happend with Chris' school schedule and I was EXHAUSTED from the day before... I drove/rode like 100 miles all around Atlanta-area. It was a long weekend. And we were both in terrible moods due to Chris' schedule thing and from just being tired.

Anyway, so we decided to not go to bible study because of how we felt and neither of us wanted to cook... so we hopped in the car to head up to Moe's for a quick and nutritious burrito dinner. Mmmm! Well, on the way to the car, this sweet little puppy (by puppy I mean young - not small... this dog was about 55 pounds!) ran up to me and jumped on me! She had been socializing with my two dogs through the fence. So, at first I was just going to leave her, but then I noticed her tag and immediately thought of what I would be thinking if one of my sweet dogs was out of our yard and couldn't find his way home. So, I had Chris call the number on the tag and it was a micro-chip service. We told them the ID number on the tag and she told us the dog was from Stockbridge! We were like WHAAAAAAAT? Then she said she just realized it was at first from Stockbridge... then someone adopted her there, then took her back to the pound. Then she moved to the Atlanta Humane Society and our neighbors, The Stoners, adopted her a few weeks ago. So, we called our neighbors home number and left them a message that their sweet dog, Harlee, was at our house and we would keep her until they got home that night.

WELL - the afternoon came and went and the night came and went and no neighbors home. So, Harlee stayed at our house and was a perfect angel. She is a good pup.

The next morning - no neighbors.

The next afternoon - no neighbors.

The next evening - FINALLY I see their truck pull in the driveway as I am coming home from working out with Jen. Yay! I run into the house and tell Chris to go tell Mr. Stoner that we had his dog. I ran to get Harlee and put her on her leash. We take her over there - and to make this story a bit shorter - he made it very clear that he didn't want "that damn dog". (Notice the quotations are his words and obviously not mine as I don't say that word.) So, Mr. Stoner throws Harlee in the back yard and says that he is taking her BACK to the pound the next day.

Chris DRAGS me back to our house and I'm just a bit upset by now. THIS IS THE REASON THAT SO MANY DOGGIES GET KILLED! People get puppies and expect them to be good like their other doggies - but you can't expect that! 99.9% of puppies are BAD and need to be LOVED and TRAINED - in that order! So, while I'm beginning to cry, we see a flash of red streak across our yard and then a tiny "scratch, scratch" on our door! SHE CAME BACK TO US! I open the door and she runs in and jumps on the couch and says, "I'm back!" She had jumped the Stoner's fence and came back to us. I told Chris that Harlee was NOT going to leave our house again. Chris walked outside and told Mr. Stoner we'd take her and take care of her and find her a good home. He said, "OK!" and went to get some food for us to give her and all her record papers.

So we now have Harlee the dog! :) She is absolutely precious and a very good dog. She has already made GREAT progress. She knows "No" and "Sit" and we are working on "Down" and "Stay" and crate training.

The plan is to teach her good manners then find a great home for her with loving parents. That is kind of the plan. I am falling more and more in love with her every day. (And although Chris won't admit it, he is too) So, we will see. :) We may soon be a household with more canine's than homosapiens! But, if she doesn't end up getting along great with my two babies, Jack and Buddie then it doesn't work out. They are my first priority and if they are not happy with Harlee living with us, then it just won't work. They are my family and have been for years. We're waiting a few weeks to have that conversation with them though. I'll let you know the details after we talk to J and B!

Here is a sweet picture of all the boys and girl last week. It only took me about 50 camera shots to get them all looking up. Buddie is on his 2 hind legs to get into the picture... and I had 3 treats dangling above my head! Ha ha!

And whenever you say Harlee's name or something else in a funny voice, she looks at you like this! It's SOOO funny!

Welcome to the world, Campbell!

Yay! Chris and I are uncle and aunt AGAIN! Chris' sister, Amy, had her precious baby girl today. Her name is Campbell Anne Brown and she is perfect. Here is a picture of Chris and I with her tonight - she was about 12 hours old in this picture.

And here is a picture of Chris with his brothers... they are cute, huh?

el fin de febrero 2008

We stayed super busy this past weekend! We had so much fun, though. Saturday, I helped Chris Testani load up girl scout cookies... I love doing nice things for them. I feel as if they have just done SO much for me in the past 5 years... I love being able to give back to them. Anyway, before I helped her, I went and (gasp!) got a S-P-R-A-Y T-A-N!!! Yes, I gave in. But it's all Jen's fault! She was chatting with me on Friday about how much she wanted to go to the tanning bed and how good tanning feels and makes you look. Well, I have vowed to myself that I will never get in the tanning bed again. I was a super tan-a-holic for so long and I just don't want to do that to my body ever again. So, I decided to get a package deal of spray tans that I can use throughout the next year. So, I did it. And Chris (my husband, not Chris Testani) has been making fun of me every day since! But, I look tan and it will last 10 days and I like it :) And it didn't do ANY harm to my skin! You just can't beat that, right?

Anyway, enough of that! Saturday night, we helped to host a couples shower for my best friend, Jessica and her fiance Chris Walzer. It was SO much fun! It was a Mexican themed party and boy did I EVER chow down on some comida mexicana. Mmmmm! I think I went back for 2nds or 3rds... who knows. I lost count. Here is a picture of me and a few other girls at Jess' shower. Jess is standing to the left of me.

Sunday, we went to church and Pastor Pete started an awesome new series called Changed. It was an amazing story I've heard a million times, but we looked at it through a different perspective this time. It was the story of the Pharisees who brought the woman they caught in the act of adultery. They brought her to Jesus and threw her at his feet. They told Him that they caught her in the un-lawful act. The law said they were to stone her - so they told this to Jesus hoping to trap him. If Jesus said to stone her, he'd be going against his loving ways. If he said to let her go, he'd be going against law. So - Jesus bent down in the sand and starting writing something in the sand. He stood up and told the men, "If any one of you is without sin, you may be the first to throw a stone." So, Jesus bent back down and starting writing something in the and again. After awhile, he looked up and all the accusers had left. He asked the lady who was left to accuse her. She said, "no one". He said, "Leave and sin no more." Pete told the story from the point of the lady - he called her Grace. How she must have felt, what was going through her mind. And he really brought the whole situation to life. It was an amazing story to hear and to take that new perspective on it was really engaging. I have felt like that lady at some times in my life - and I think of the times I may have been a Pharisee - and accused others. When really, their sins are no better than mine... especially the sin of judging them... when really God is the only one who could judge... and he chose not to. Jesus died on the cross for that lady who committed adultery... and for mine. Anyway, it was an awesome message... I love new series Sundays :)

Sunday afternoon, Chris and I ran - or jogged - in the 5 K Hunger Ran/Walk downtown. It's amazing how many people in my community don't get enough food every day and how many people live in poverty. I have lived a very sheltered and blessed life. But so many within several miles of me are not able to get but one good meal a day. I am thankful for the ACFB for holding the walk and that I was able to help raise money to help feed those in my community. Here is a pic of Chris and I right after the walk. :)

More about the race - I finished in about 37 minutes - which isn't very good - but it's OK considering I haven't ran outside in a few years. So, I did OK. Chris finished right at about 40. But we are going to take the initiative to start running together more and we have already signed up for another 5K race in April with my sister's company. And in September, we are thinking about running in a 10K with our sweet neighbors, Kris and Kristen. We'll see!

Also, Sunday night Kris came over to help Chris move his aquarium inside! Finally! Chris has done such a great job building this thing and it looks really good. Here it is - empty - in our house.

And then - some how - some strange creature ended up in the tank!!! Check this out!

OH - and on a really random note - there is this chain that hangs from my ceiling in my living room. What do you think it's for?