Snap Shots of Life

I typed this on Brittany's Birthday - oh, two weeks ago.  Somehow I never hit the publish button! Really stuttering to get the word {teenager} out when describing Brittany. However, I am fortunate to have spent the past thirteen years with her. I could probably write a very long elaborate post about all the reasons we love her. Instead I want to share our families Top Thirteen! 13. She loves animals and takes good care of our cats, Bella & Stella 12. Respectful to adults and her peers 11. She's part of my family 10. She loves with ALL of her heart! 9. Sports enthusiast 8. Loves her Grandparents very much 7. Always gives her best 6. Rarely complains 5. She got me some cool glasses 4. She is my best friend for life 3. Helps out tremendously with her brothers 2. Is Brittany all the time and no one else! 1. Is a faithful Christian Happy Birthday to our most favorite, loving, sweet, compassionate daughter. We love you always and forever!

In November (I know, way late) we traveled around Hampton taking photos for our Christmas cards and gift pictures.  As Doug drove he asked "where to" so I told him my vision of a railroad track scene.  He pulled up to the perfect location!   This is the old Miley Train Station.  On a bright sunny day pictures here are wonderful! Just look at these cheesy grins! And we just couldn't visit the train station without checking out the trains And *tear* my favorite daughter who is just DAYS away from becoming a teenager

Valentine's Day is fastly approaching! Here are some interesting facts about all that yummy chocolate you should receive, give, or just flat out buy for yourself to enjoy!! Chocolate derives from beans or seeds obtained from pods of the Cacao tree.  It has been said that a man from the 1700's claimed chocolate eats the "food of the gods".  Would you agree?!! Here are some other known research facts about Chocolate: Studies have found that when we eat chocolate certain chemicals are released in our body that makes us feel good. Chocolate has a number of health benefits too.  Such as giving you energy and has antioxidants that can reduce the chances of cancer and heart disease. Chocolate contains less caffeine than coffee or tea. While we are certainly thankful these beans/seeds were discovered to make this delicious treat possible. There are many other contributing elements that make up the best chocolate treats! I prefer milk chocolate paired with caramel...

We watched this movie Sunday night and LOVED it!  The creators of this movie are from Sheerwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA and have made three other films  Flywheel , Facing the Giants , and Fireproof .  We have seen Facing the Giants and Fireproof which were excellent also.  Doug and I also did a couples bible study through our church on the Fireproof material. Let me know if you'd like to rent our movie out or you can see it played at our church service tonight and Sunday night!

I love this time of year (well I technically love all times of the year) but this makes top three! Year after year I get this tingling feeling from all the support our county gets for our Relay Event.  Should be no surprise that we excelled to the #2 County in South Carolina in per capita for 2011 from being #5 in 2010.  BUT - for us it's not just about the numbers - UNLESS you're counting the number of lives we are aiming to save!! I had the wonderful opportunity of attending the South Atlantic Relay Summit back in October.  That was such a WOW experience. I got to help the National RFL Task Force decorate tables and beckon all the SC peeps to our area And I witnessed this flash mob - sweet! Since the formation of Relay For Life and their partnership with the American Cancer Society this organization has raised over 4 Billion dollars for Cancer Research, Detection, and Prevention efforts.  Hampton County is in the the South Atlantic Division an...

As if Christmas isn't exciting enough we have someone in our house with a Birthday 10 days after! Lockwood wanted his Birthday to be All Orange! He asked Santa for a Dirt Bike, so since he didn't bring that we decided to get him a bigger bike with a kick stand.  Well, it has to be returned because of a broken sprocket but he loved it! He wanted orange football cookies.  My apologies to those sweet children in his class!!  I am not a Baker on a normal day.  On this particular night before I was to have these at school we had work duty for the basketball games.  So I stayed up until 1:30am baking....icing....decorating.  So glad I had chips, fruit snacks, and chocolate milk for back-up!! After a little football, pinata, presents, and cake I know he had a wonderful Birthday! PS. Turning six gives you magic powers to run faster according to Lockwood!  And ---- he can read books to me now instead of me reading to ...

Parents are entitled to brag a little, right? Okay we don't mind doing that sometimes! Please excuse the quality of the first picture since it was taken from Doug's phone Who says girls who LOVE playing sports and hunting more than anything can't be pretty girly girls too!!  Ours sure does it all and I know some others who can too :) I really think Daddy has had a hidden agenda over the kids winter break from school.  He and Brittany have spent every spare minute of the day hunting some sort of animal....Squirrels....Birds....Deer.  I did at one point have a new shopping buddy, but I will have her back after hunting season!  I know they are enjoying their time together and I have enjoyed seeing their excitement too. Pictured here are some of Britt's friends from their Middle School Social.  Some of those sweet-pretty-hunting girls I mentioned above are pictured here!! :)