YEAH, A/C

We have been without air conditioning since last Friday evening. We went to our local high school football game (sorry guys better luck next time) and when we got home it was not working. My husband is very handy, he's an electrician, and can fix just about anything but the air conditioner. He knew what was wrong he just wasn't sure how to fix it. I called someone on Monday, they said they could come on Wednesday. Wednesday evening came and Wednesday evening went and still no repair guy. I called today and he said he was here, he couldn't find the house and the only phone number he had was my work number. ARGGGG. So we made arrangements for him to come back today. He came, he saw, we now have cool air. Thank God. All I heard all weekend was "I'm hot, I'm hot" and that was just from Rusty. Now, I'm sure it will be nice and cool outside. I love to have the windows open and air the house but not when it's 90 degrees outside.
Blake has a football game on Saturday, hopefully it will be better than last weekend.
My Dad will be home this weekend and he is bringing my Pawpaw with him, it will be great to see them. We are going down there on Saturday to have a cookout.
Well, I better get ready for the morning, good night and talk later.
Bridget

Catching up

Well, there hasn't really been alot going on here. We have been back down to see my Pawpaw and spent a long weekend with him. We really enjoyed that, Rusty took Ashleigh and Blake to the beach and even though I really like going to the beach also I really wanted to spend that time with my Pawpaw. The beach will always be there. Wayne and I took Pawpaw to Wal-Mart and generally just hung out with him. I will tell you a little about my Grandparents, I've asked for prayers and it's nice to know who you are praying for. I've always been close to my Grandparents but I have gotten to know my Pawpaw all over again as a different kind of person. He's always been my Grandfather but I'm am really getting to know him as a friend. You know your parents and Grandparents love each other but since my Mawmaw passed away it has been so different to hear him talk. He told me that she wasn't just his wife, she was his best friend, the person he did everything with. I look at my husband as my best friend and we do alot together but I guess you don't look at your Grandparents in the same light. It has really made me look at things differently. My Pawpaw and I laid on the floor for 5 hours straight looking at old pictures. I am very blessed that my Great Grandmother took so many pictures. There are pictures of my Great Grandmother from the 20's as a flapper. That was so incredibly awesome. It really makes you look at them as people, people who were young, hung out at the beach, racing around in fast cars and went to parties. It is really touching to look at a part of your history.
My Grandparents really had an incredible love story. They met at Carolina Beach in North Carolina. My Mawmaw was 16,living there and going to high school and my Pawpaw was down there visiting his brother. He saw her on the beach and got his brother's girlfriend (my future great aunt) to set them up. They dated for a while and then he had to go home to Ozark, IL. When he left he told her if she was still interested, when she graduated from high school to send him an announcement of her graduation. 2 years later she did just that and then he proposed to her. They did not see each other until the day before their wedding. They were married for 58 years Sept 5, 2006. My Grandmother was the kind of person that would give you her last dollar and she did many times. If you asked her if she had any money she would always say "I think I've got my last dollar" and it became a family joke. When she passed away we buried her with one of her many purses and we each put a dollar in it. She would have loved that. She was always there when I needed her and she would call me just to check up on me. I really miss her. Now, my parents are moving to Carolina Beach to move in with my Pawpaw. They are buying my aunt out of her part of the house and it will be my parents. My Pawpaw doesn't want to live alone and we don't want him to either. They are going to keep their house here also. I will really miss my parents but I would rather them be there and be able to have my Pawpaw around longer.
Blake has started football, they won a game and lost a game. I will post some pictures of him at his games. (Now that I know how to do that you all will get tired of seeing all my pictures.) Ashleigh changed jobs and she is now working at Peebles, which she seems to like but she's only been there for a week. Wayne has been riding his bike alot and we have a bike shop in town now so he has been hanging around down there with his friends. School is back in and work is getting really busy. The holidays will be here before we know it and Wal-Mart is going to stop doing layaways. What will I do? I start shopping for now and put toys on layaway along with cds and movies. They are really putting a crimp in my plans.
Have a great day tomorrow!
Bridget

Pictures at last...

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Finally, I will be able to post my pictures. Steven taught me how to do it but then we had the problem with the modem and I was never able to try it, it took a couple of trial runs but I have finally mastered it.
This is my Mom and my brother Steven on the deck of the Carnival Glory. We had so much fun and I am finally going to get to share some of the pictures.
















This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. My Dad, who doesn't smoke, and Steven (who also doesn't smoke) went and bought 3 cigars for them to smoke on deck as we were pulling out of port.


In Costa Maya it is too shallow for the ship to dock in the port so they send out "taxis" to get you. This is how we got to the beach, you can see our ship in the background.

Rusty stepped on this in the water. Isn't that the most incredible shell you have ever seen not being sold in a store? He really wanted to bring it home but we didn't think the conk would be really happy being evicted from his house so back into the water he went.

Me and Rusty in front of one of the Myan pyramids. If you ever get the chance to see these, go, run as fast as you can, they are incredible.

One of the mexican military check points we had to go through, that was kind of freaky.


Ok, now we are in May.

Ashleigh and prom. Sorry I didn't flip the picture around, hey I'm new at this picture stuff.


Ashleigh and her friends, the next Charlie's Angels.

Ashleigh, Brooke and Kelsey.

June


Blake's 2nd grade awards ceremony. He received reading and math awards and was awarded the class clown award. I was a little concerned about the class clown thing but his teacher said that was a good thing that he always made her laugh and he always has a smile on his face.


Blake climbing the rock wall. He didn't make it all the way to the top but he made a good try of it.

July 4th

Ashleigh, her friend Devin and the newest addition to the Gibson family, Mason. He was born in March, isn't he cute?



My nephew Brett and his girlfriend at our family's 4th of July party.

Mom and Dad, aren't they cute?


Steven having a good time at the party
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Rusty (on the left) and his best friend Dan.

Wayne and Ashleigh at my Dad's birthday party. Thank God Wayne finally got his hair cut. Before my Mawmaw passed away she told him to get a hair cut. When she died he did and then was one of her pallbearers.

This is my Pawpaw with all of his grandchildren and great grandchildren minus 1 who is pregnant. We have the oldest (yours truly) down to little Peyton.

Sorry, another sideways picture. This is Blake on his 8th birthday.

Mom

Steven, doesn't he look happy?

Dad

Brett

Wayne, another happy camper, do you think it's the hat?

As you can see, when you come to our house everyone is required to wear the happy birthday hat. Even our dog Abby wears one. She doesn't look as unhappy about it as some of the party goers.

The second celebration of Dad's birthday.

Rusty in his annual picture of him with his new set of Redskins season tickets. Go skins.

The first day of school. Sorry they are sideways, I promise I will get better at this.







Well, there you have it a recap of our lives for the last couple months. Thank you for the prayers and thoughts.
It has been a happy, sad, exciting and disappointing time for our family but together we pulled through it.
Have a great night.
Bridget

Look what I have learned

I have finally figured out how to post pictures, I feel like I should give a little speech on my accomplishment. We have finally gotten a new modem that will work and I have my DSL line back. YEA!!!!! This is just a short blog as a trial run, I will blog more later tonight and bore you some more with more pictures. This is in Costa Mya (I think I spelled that wrong) but you get the idea.
Talk to you later.
Bridget

Tuesday

You Have Your Sarcastic Moments

While you're not sarcastic at all times, you definitely have a cynical edge. In your opinion, not all people are annoying. Some are dead! And although you do have your genuine moments, you can't help getting your zingers in. Some people might be a little hurt by your sarcasm, but it's more likely they think you're hilarious.

How Sarcastic Are You?

Sad News

I will be gone for a while, my Grandmother passed away at 6:45 this evening. Please pray for my family.

Bridget

Grandma update

Just a note to let you know we made it to NC and home safely. Well, I made it back home, my Mom stayed and I'm not sure when she will be home. My Grandmother is not going to get any better and actually she is only going to get worse. The doctors have said that her body is just tired and she doesn't want to fight anymore. My whole family is having such a hard time with all of this right now. The only thing that is helping, is knowing that she is saved and I will one day see her again, but like Blake said last night "That will be in a really long time" and that just hurts so bad. My little 8 year old has prayed for her for months every day multiple times, from saying grace at the table before we eat to saying his prayers before bed. He didn't understand last night why she didn't get better, he said "but I prayed". So Rusty and I had to sit him down and explain to him that God always answers our prayers just sometimes they don't get answered the way we want, but that it is always the way it is supposed to be. He seemed better after that but he kept crying and bringing his little hands up to his head, he broke my heart. My children are very close with my Grandparents, they have spent alot of time with them and this is going to be very hard for them. There aren't alot of 17 year olds that have been blessed to have Great Grandparents. The decision was made yesterday to make her comfortable, no more tests, no more blood draws or poking, she is on morphine for pain and she is still on the ventilator. They are going to let nature take it's course and let God's will be done. My Grandparents are such strong Christians and I don't know how my Grandfather is holding up the way he is, but he has been so strong for all of us around him. Please pray for us and keep us in your thoughts.
Bridget

Prayers Please

I am leaving with my Mom to go to North Carolina, we got notice today that my Grandmother is doing really bad and that she is "not there anymore". My family really needs prayer right now for God's will, I am not ready to give her up but I also do not want her in any pain.

Thanks

Happy 4th of July (the day after)

Well, it was once again a busy but fun 4th of July for our family. Saturday was the 29th annual Gibson 4th of July party at my mother-in-laws. It was a lot of fun, tons of wonderful food and great music. We had about 130 people and I worried all week because of all the rain we were getting, but thank God by Saturday things had dried out and it all went off without a hitch. Yesterday on the 4th, my parents and my brother came over for a cookout and to watch the fireworks in our town from our deck. We have the best seat in the house, our deck overlooks the mountains. They have a big celebration in town and then around 9:30 they set off fireworks in the town park. We have a perfect view of the fireworks as they are going off and we don't have to leave the house. It's great.

My dad will be heading back to North Carolina tomorrow to stay with my Grandfather again. He has been trying to come home every other week but we can't depend on my aunt to go down and stay there for more than a few days so his visits have been cut short some. My Dad worries about my grandfather being alone, he is 81 and gets confused sometimes. My Mom is very lucky that my Dad will stay with her father like this, there aren't a lot of husbands out there that would be willing to do that. The doctors seem to be pleased with the progress my grandmother is making even though it sometimes doesn't seem like much to us. Please keep praying for her.

I am officially the assistant secretary for the little league football, I will be the assistant while I am learning from the current secretary and until she moves. I hope I am up to this, from the sounds of it, it is almost like a full time job. I am just glad I really don't have to deal with the parents a lot, that falls to the President, lucky man that he is. I guess we will see how this goes. I was the PTO President for Ashleigh's school when she was in 1st grade and those parents drove me nuts, everyone wants to tell you how you should do things but no one wants to volunteer to help. What have I gotten myself into?

Have a great day!!!
Bridget

Another Monday

Our weekend was pretty nice. Baseball has ended and football has started. Rusty coaches so he has had to be at sign up for the official handing out of the equipment. He loves it, he lives for it, my husband is completely obsessed with sports but football in particular. He came home all excited Saturday because the league's secretary is moving and they need someone to do it. Guess who he volunteered? Go ahead guess, 3 guessed and you will only need 1. ME!! I asked him what this will involve and he doesn't know, some meetings, the taking of some minutes, etc. Taking of minutes, I've never taken the minutes of a meeting before, God help me so I don't kill him. Saturday evening we had his middle brother's birthday at Rusty's Mom's house and that was really nice. Everyone together just enjoying each other and having a good time.

Sunday was supposed to be my "I'm not leaving the house day" but as we all well know the best laid plans are sure to be destroyed. Rusty was going to work in the yard weedeating, Wayne was going to mow and all of that good stuff. After about an hour Rusty comes in the house to announce that the weedeater will not work, there is something wrong with it. He has taken it apart and he thinks it could possibly be the carburetor. So he wants to go to The Home Depot to get a new one and of course he wants me to go with him. Now, people I am not a stupid woman, I know why he wants me to go with him, if I go then he can get the more expensive model. He won't do that if I'm not with him, he will get the cheaper one and then talk about how he really wanted the other one and how much nicer it was. If I'm in the store he can tell me how great the more expensive one is and how much better it is until he wears me down and I tell him to just buy it because I want to go home. So anyway after comparing all of the wonders of weedeating at the store he gets the one he wanted and we head home. He's all excited, like a little kid with a new toy, and then we get the down pour of rain. I thought he was going to cry. It rained the rest of the day, so there was so mowing and no weedeating. The yard will have to wait for another day.

Have a great day!!!
Bridget

IT'S FRIDAY!!!!

Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Very popular, one of you is not enough.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

Thursday

I made it through another day as the gym and actually it really is getting easier. My reps have been upped and I made it through them with little trouble. (trumpets sounding) Melissa, thanks for the words of encouragement, I too wish I had started earlier. I have seen such a change in Rusty but I am plugging along and we are eating better as a family also.

Rusty's aunt has to have surgery on Friday so please keep her in your prayers. She has a tear in her intestines. To me, that sounds serious, but the Dr. said it was about a 4 hour procedure and then they would send her home. My Grandmother is making leaps and bounds and doing so good. She still has bad times and I think sometimes her mind isn't all quite there. Actually, I know it's not all there sometimes. On Tuesday when the physical therapist was working with her they moved her into a real wheelchair, not the big comfy chair on wheels, and she threw a fit. She wanted to be in the big chair, when they wouldn't put her in it, get this, she held her breath like a spoiled little kid. I couldn't believe it, this is my Grandmother who doesn't put up with any nonsense and she's holding her breath. Hopefully, things will change with that also, but we are just taking one day at a time and thanking God continuously for the strides she has made.

My brother is looking for a house and last night I went with him to look at one. It is really cute, has a porch across the front, cedar siding, fire place, etc., but it is very small. It is basically one big room with one other room for the bathroom. I think it has a lot of potential because he could build onto it, but I don't know if he could even get all of his furniture in it. He has looked a about 5, I think, and this was the best of the bunch. The other ones have basically been falling down and rotting. He is getting a little discouraged, I think, but I don't want him to just settle either and then be stuck. Please pray for him and his search for a house.

Well, I better go, have a great day, and Melissa "Welcome Back."
Bridget

Good News

There is so much good news going on here. I went with my Mom and Dad to Rocky Mount on Thursday to see my Grandmother. A meeting with her doctors had been set up for Friday and Mom asked me if I would go with them. Before the meeting they just weren't quite sure about the doctors at this place, but after the meeting all worries had been put to bed. This pulmonologist that she has really is a good doctor. She was able to alleviate the worries and fears that we had been having and she took the time to explain a lot of things to us. It would have been nice if that had been done when my Grandmother first got to this hospital but now it's been done and we move on from here. They moved her from the "observation" area to a private room on Friday and she has made leaps and bounds just since the move. They were able to turn down her ventilator 2 steps on Saturday and 2 steps on Sunday. She is more alert and is communicating with us, it is just such an answer to prayer. Thank you everyone for the prayers.
The next good news is that we are almost done with the 2 months of parties that we have had to attend. In my husband's family there is always a good reason for a party. Everyone has always joked that in this family "Oh, it's going to rain, time for a party", but I think we have finally hit the place where if we never have another party it will be just fine with all of us. We have 2 left and then we are done for a while. This weekend is my brother in law's birthday and then the next weekend is "The Gibson Family Extravaganza". Rusty's family has been having a 4th of July party for years, actually this year is the 29th year. It's a huge party at my mother in law's house, lots of great food, games, fireworks and a live band. My 2 brother in laws have a band and they play every year. Rusty whole family is full of musical talent, his oldest brother has never had any lessons and can pick up any instrument and play it. He totally amazes me and his oldest son is the exact same way. Last summer he taught himself to play the mandolin and to listen to him play it is awesome. The band will be competing in the Fauquier County Fair battle of the bands this year on July 13, they won last year and got to be the opening act for Deana Carter. They really are very good. Their father was in a bluegrass band years ago, had their own tv show and was on the Ted Mack Variety Hour in New York, so music is in their blood.
School is out and that means children sleeping in until 11 or 12 in my house. I don't remember ever sleeping that late, I still can't do it. I always feel like I have wasted my day doing that, but they are enjoying it.
We got Ashleigh's senior pictures back in the mail Saturday. I couldn't believe we got them already. Seeing her in that formal drape made me start to feel old, so I had to keep repeating, "I am not getting old, I am not getting old". They do them a lot earlier now than when I was in school, but that has been a little while ago. sshhh 20 years next year. It's really funny, Rusty's mom graduated in 1957, my mom is 1967, Rusty's brother in 1977, Rusty and me in 1987 and now Ashleigh will be 2007, kind of neat.
Well, I better get going, have a great day.
Bridget

I AM GOING TO DIE

When it comes to exercise, I am a wimp. I will walk but that is about the extent of exercise for me. Now my husband on the other hand, he would live at the gym if he didn't have 4 people waiting at home to see his smiling face. He loves the gym, he belongs to Gold's and he has been after me to join, he said it would be something "fun" to do together. I have a free trial through him, so I thought I would give it a try. Oh my gosh, I hurt in places I didn't even know I had body parts. I've only been twice, I'm trying 3 days a week. He gets off work at 2:30 so he heads over there and does his thing and then goes through everything with me. I'm not sure having your husband as your personal trainer is a really good idea, they lie. While I'm on one piece of torture equipment he is setting up the next one for me and you have to check him or he will set the weights just a little more than what I want and when you call him on it, it was always an accident. It really is nice one on one time together, but I don't know if I wil live through it.

I think I have finally found the way to punish Blake that really bothers him. I take away reading in bed. He's generally a really good kid, but lately he has really been testing me. We were in Wal-Mart the other day standing at the deli. We are patiently waiting our turn, and believe my when I say patiently, I mean you're hoping you get away from the deli within an hour. The women behind that counter could care less if they wait on you or not. I have stood there waiting and had them look at me and walk into the back room. Maybe it's me. Anyway, we are waiting and he keeps edging his way away from me and backing into this other lady waiting there. We keep playing this game, he edges I pull him back and tell him to stand still. Finally, he bumps into her, I take his hand and lean down next to his ear and tell him if he doesn't stand still he will be waiting in the car with his Daddy. To which my husband looks and me like I have just sentenced him to death, what, make him leave Wal-Mart without looking at sporting goods and guns, what am I thinking. Blake starts crying and screaming "Don't scream at me, I can't take it." I never even raised my voice, but I really wanted to at that point. Then Sunday at Nissan Pavillion for my nephew's graduation, he kept running ahead of us and wouldn't stay with us. I made him hold my hand to which he starting crying again and yelling, "You're squeezing my hand too tight, I can't feel my fingers." I haven't been able to come up with anything to really seems to bother him, but I figured it out the other day, he loves to read. He reads everywhere, the car, bed, lying on the floor, he just loves to read. So, when we act bad now we don't get to read in bed before we fall asleep.

I am headed to Rocky Mount, NC today. That is where they moved my Grandmother from Duke and there is a meeting with her doctors tomorrow. We are trying to find another place for her, we just don't feel like they are doing what needs to be done for her. She is bored and is getting aggitated really easy now. We think they are sedating her so they don't have to deal with her, my Mom is convinced they are going to kill her if we don't get her out of there. When the doctors are on the floor doing rounds they won't even take the time to talk to the family, they are too busy. It's been very frustrating so please keep us in your prayers.

Have a great day and a great weekend.
Bridget

Monday

You know, it is really sad when you have to come back to work to get a little rest. We had such a busy weekend. First Friday my Mom was headed back to North Carolina to spend the weekend with my Grandmother. Who, by the way, is still in the hospital. Please keep prayers coming, we really need them right now, I think the people in the hospital are going to kill her if we don't get her out of there and somewhere else soon. Why is it that the elderly are just given up on? I really don't understand that. But anyway, we babysit my parents dog when they are gone, so Friday evening we ran to my Mom's to get Aspen. While we were there Rusty wanted to use their computer to load more CD's on his ipod. Actually, he wanted me to do it, he hasn't figured it out yet. When I saw the bag of CD's he had brought with him the thought of murder passed through my mind. "But it will hold 7500 songs" is what I heard. If you know my husband you know if it's the latest gadget, and kitchen gadgets are the worst, he has to have it. So when he went and bought his ipod it couldn't be some simple one he had to have the new one that holds 7500 songs, plays videos and I think it also plays tv shows. So we spend a couple hours at my parents loading the ipod. Saturday morning Blake had a baseball game and then I had to go pick up Wayne Saturday night. He got back from Canada, had a great time, caught a lot of fish and bug bites. The poor boy looked like he had been served up on the buffet at a bug restaurant. Sunday we had another baseball game and then my nephews graduation from high school. The whole graduation all I kept thinking about was the fact that next year I will be sitting at Ashleigh's school watching her graduate. I just can't believe it, it has gone so incredibly fast. Rusty said "Hey, we may know some of the parents of these graduates tonight." We graduated from the same county and at our time there was only 1 high school. I told him we weren't old enough to know these graduates parents, but then I realized yes we are. Where has the time gone? Next year we will be going to our 20 year reunion. It doesn't seem possible.
Have a great day!!
Bridget

Happy Weekend

We have finally made it to another wonderful fun filled weekend or as my favorite deejays on the radio say "Friday's here, have a can of beer" to the tune of AC/DC's Back in Black. Actually I'm not fond of beer, but give me a tropical drink with an umbrella in a coconut shaped like a monkey's head and I am all over that. I had one of those on the cruise, it was probably the most expensive drink I have ever ordered, but I wanted the monkey head coconut. This will be another weekend of running, tonight I have to run to my parents house and pick up their dog. I am babysitting while they are in North Carolina with my Grandmother this weekend. Tomorrow Blake has a ballgame, Sunday there's another ballgame and then my nephew's high school graduation is Sunday night. Why do they schedule graduation on a Sunday night at 7:00? I really do not understand that. We are about an hour and 1/2 from Nissan Pavilion where they are having it. We won't be home until midnight, not that we wouldn't go, we wouldn't miss it but geez don't they realize that some people have to get up and go to work in the morning.
Wayne comes home on Sunday. He has been in Canada fishing and bear hunting this past week. It will really be good to have him home, it's just not the same without him there.
Please pray for my Grandmother, she is not doing well. She seemed to be doing better and was writing notes to people and then yesterday they couldn't get her to wake up or respond. The Dr's have said they think she could have an infection and they have taken some cultures, but I really don't understand. How can someone go one day sitting up, writing notes and trying to talk to unconscious and unresponsive. It doesn't make any sense. But anyway, please pray for her. I don't want to lose her, but also this isn't any kind of life for her either.
Have a great weekend.
Bridget

Friday!!!!

You Are Marge Simpson

You're a devoted family member who loves unconditionally. Sometimes, though, you dream about living a wild secret life! You will be remembered for: your good cooking and evading the police Your life philosophy: "You should listen to your heart, and not the voices in your head."

The Simpsons Personality Test

It's Official

Ashleigh received her "real" drivers license yesterday. We had to go to court and a judge talked to about 30 kids for an hour and about 15 minutes. It was actually a very good talk. I enjoyed it anyway. I hope the kids were really listening. He spoke to them about responsibility, respect and how driving is a privilege. I liked the part about if you are in a car with someone who is driving stupid and you realize that you could be putting yourself in danger, to tell them you want to get out of the car. If they won't pull over for you to get out, shove your finger down your throat and try to make yourself throw up. They will not only pull over to let you out, they will probably help you out. He's really a great judge and he is very passionate about teenagers and driving. His son was killed when he was 17 in a car accident, the other kid that was driving was going 90 miles an hour. I hope he got through to the kids.
Blake's baseball game was cancelled last night because of thunderstorms. I am really very blessed with Blake. He has such a good attitude about his games. He loves to win, but when they do lose like they did last Saturday, he just goes about life and tells everyone that it's about having fun.
This weekend is going to be so busy. Tomorrow Rusty has to be at football sign up from 9-1. He's a coach so he is supposed to be there to help with sign up and assigning kids equipment. But, Blake has a baseball game at 11:00, which Rusty also coaches, so he will have to leave football to go to baseball. Then tomorrow evening we have my niece's graduation party. She graduated from UVA. We are so very proud of her. It has taken her a while, she went to NOVA for a couple years and then transferred but she did it. Way to go Kelly!!!! We are getting an upgrade on our software program at work this weekend so on Sunday I have to go in for a while for that. I don't think I will even know that I had a weekend. Oh, well.
My brother is getting ready to buy a house and he is so excited. He is going to look at one in Bryce. He has been preapproved so now he just has to find his new home. I remember when Rusty and I did that and then started looking for a home. We were so excited and it seemed to take forever to find exactly what we wanted. We have lived in our house for 10 years this year and it seems like yesterday that we moved in. Our story is such a different kind of story, and I think I may have blogged about this before but maybe not. We got married in 1987 right out of high school. We had Ashleigh in 1989 and then we separated that same year. We were both very young and being married and having a baby was a lot. We were both also very spoiled and used to having our own way, which didn't work out very well. We both moved on, I got remarried, he got engaged and lived with her but never married. I had my son, Wayne, and then in 1993 I got divorced. Rusty and I started talking about our marriage and what we had done wrong and we started seeing each other again. We got remarried in 1995 and bought our house in 1996 so we got a little late start with the house buying stuff. Our second marriage was a lot of fun to plan because we didn't want to do the traditional white and tux, we had already done that the first time, so being the Civil War buff that my husband is, we did a Civil War Wedding. That was so much fun, as soon as I get my computer at home running, still having problems, I will blog about that and post some pictures.
Have a great day!!!
Bridget

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