The Good Stuff

We have had so much happen since I last blogged.

Easter-
Easter was really nice and really sad. My parents were in North Carolina with my Grandmother, she is still in the hospital so please keep the prayers coming, so I didn't get to see them at all for Easter. I don't like that. Steven had to work so I didn't get to see him either. My brother and I are really close, we talk on the phone everyday so not getting to see him on a holiday is really hard. Ashleigh had to work on Easter which was a first for us so we didn't get to sunrise service like we normally do and that was really strange. We haven't missed 1 in years. We went to my mother-in-laws for dinner. She has this incredible Easter egg hunt every year at her house. She has over 100 plastic eggs that Rusty and his 2 brothers hide in the yard and everyone one of them has money in it. She wants all the grandchildren to hunt for them even the 1 that turned 21 on the 23 of this month. They love it, for the older ones it's gas money and for the young ones it's video game money or music money. It is a lot of fun.

The Cruise-
We had such an incredible time on the cruise. This ship was completely different than the last one and the activities were different also so it was like going for the first time all over again. Our first port was Key West and we've all been there before but it is fun to walk around and see the sights. Some of the sights are quite strange considering Key West is the gay and lesbian capital of the world. The headquarters for the gay and lesbian coalition is located there so it does make it quite a different world than from where I come from. We did have a really nice time there. Our second port was Belize. We went to a private beach for the day and that was so nice. They were doing massages on the beach, they had a bar set up, the water was incredible. Rusty found some of the biggest shells I have ever see outside of a gift shop. He found a huge shell that had a soft shell crab living it in. He wanted to bring the shell home but didn't want to kick the crab out of his home so the shell stayed in Belize. Steven and Dad went kayaking in the Caribbean Sea and really enjoyed that. After the beach we went into the town of Belize. It was very neat but kind of scary also. They had big locked gates behind the shopping area, you can't cross through them and the people on the other side can't come to your side. I'm not sure what is up with that, but it was very strange. We bought a lot of stuff to bring home and had a great time there also. Then we were off to Costa Maya. That was my absolute favorite stop. We went to see the Mayan Temple Ruins, if you ever get to do that run as fast as you can to get in line. That was unbelievable. I can't wait to go back. (I promise I will have pictures Steven is going to be coming over and trying to get my internet back up and running, I tried to talk to the internet provider the other day and had no luck so hopefully he will be able to get it going.) We bought some of the neatest stuff there. Our guide was wonderful, everything about that port was just great. After we left the ruins we went into the shopping area and right in the middle of all the stores there is a beach area around a pool with a floating bar in it that you swim up to. It is such paradise. The kids wanted sombreros so we searched for them and found some really nice very heavy hats. Blake had asked for pesos. We had the hardest time finding pesos, finally one of the sales girls in a store took them out of her purse and traded us for American money. They don't use pesos in the stores there because it's mostly tourists. We then had a wonderful 2 days of "fun at sea" coming back to Florida. We ate until we couldn't move anymore. My husband who has lost close to 50 pounds, spends everyday at the gym and has gotten his body fat from 28% to 15% gained 16 pounds on the cruise. I couldn't believe it and neither could he but he had buckled down and it is gone again. I don't know if I could be as dedicated as he is about working out. He wants us to start walking in the evening after dinner. Please pray for me, I'm going to need it. I have a feeling a monster had been created. Anyway, back to cruising. During the cruise they are constantly video taping and you can buy the video at the end of the cruise. Well, Mom and Dad made the beginning of the video and Rusty, Steven and I made the end of it in a conga line at a party one night. Steven had bought 3 rasta hats, one for him, one for Rusty and one for Dad and they were wearing them that night. It is definitely a night to remember. We all hated to come back, we had such an incredible time. We saw the lights of Cuba as we went by it and that was pretty neat too.

Mother's Day-
I had a wonderful mother's day. Ashleigh drives now so they went shopping on their own. They did some pretty incredible things for me. They filled a basket with my favorite candy, pens (I'm a freak about pens have been all my life), a book, the new Tobey Keith cd, a coupon book of things I can redeem from them later like washing the dishes, and a picture frame with a saying about moms. They made me a picture frame that they signed and then they took a presentation board, went through my pictures and put all of these pictures of each one of them and pictures of me on it. I cried, it was so sweet. Rusty took me to Home Depot, I love Home Depot, and we bought a bunch of flowers for the yard. My yard is really looking good, I love flowers.

We have so much going on between now and July. My niece graduated from UVA, WAY TO GO KELLY, nephew graduates from high school on June 11, 2 very close family friends of ours have children graduating, one of my nephews turned 21 on the 23 of this month, my brother-in-law has a birthday, my grandfather turned 81, and my sister-in-laws parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. We have birthday parties, graduation parties and somewhere in the middle of all that Blake has baseball. We are constantly on the go but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Life is really good. In the middle of everyday life and everything going on Blake has been asking about being saved. He started about 2 years ago because he wanted to know about the "juice" in church. We explained it to him and he said it was too hard and wanted to wait. Well, last night he came to me and wanted to know more about it. So I got my Bible out and we talked about it. He said he wanted to be saved. My big question for him "Are you doing this so you can drink juice at church?" To which he got very offended and said "NO, I want to go to heaven. But I will be able to drink the juice, right?" So he prayed and my little Blake got saved last night. He went through the house announcing to everyone that he had done it. He was so excited. Like I said, Life is good!!!

Have a great day.
Bridget

Alive and well

Just a note to let you know that I am still alive and kicking. We have been so busy with my Grandmother still being in the hospital and just everyday life that I haven't had time to sit down and blog at all. I finally got a new modem but out internet provider says it has to be configured now. I give up. So hopefully, I will get that down there this week sometime.
We went on our cruise this past week and had an incredible time. I will blog more about that later when I have more time, but I do have to say if you ever get a chance to see the Mayan temple ruins, do it. It is so incredibly awesome. Run to your travel agent and book a cruise, this was our second and I can't wait to do the third. My parents are taking Ashleigh for her graduation present next year, oh my gosh my child will be graduating, that can't be possible I'm not that old, and they are already planning it. They are looking at St. Thomas, St. Marten in that area.
I will be back within the next few days and as soon as I get that modem going I will be able to blog from home again and I also will be able to post pictures from the cruise.
Have a great day!!!!
Bridget