Better Late than Never......

I realize I've been neglected our blog for quite some time now. I apologize, because I love when others update THEIR blogs....and check them frequently. I feel sorry for all you 4 readers that might have been checking it...and now have probably given up on me!

Of course I'll blame it on our busy life, as if it's any busier than the average American, but most of all, I'd like to give a shout out to our turtle speed internet. Makes for difficult blogging. But that's what you get when you decide to live in the middle of nowhere, where the only place to receive an internet connection is from a satellite in space....more middle of nowhere.

Anyway, we've been enjoying spring and summer in Tallahassee. Everything is in bloom and beautiful. I would say our most interesting happening recently was our anniversary vacation in April. (Yes, I'm in denial that it's July already, so I still consider April "recent".)

Instead of the average vacationer that goes to one place, stay's there for a whole week, and lays by the beach, we try to see just how many miles we can put on our car and how many states we can go through in this short period of time. We left Tally and head for Starkville for Super Bulldog Weekend. This is almost a religious experience for Jeremie. Even though the 7 hour drive was not technically on the way to Asheville, NC, there was no question that we were going. We should get extra points on our Bulldog Club membership for this. Anyway, we had a great time in Starkvegas, got see some State sports, friends, family, and do I even need to mention ate Cheesesticks at the Grill. (The NEW grill-very nice!) Jeremie and I even went for a walk around campus and went into the chapel, which was the first time we'd been in there since we said our vows....Ya'll know me...I cried...

Being on campus never gets old.

We then headed to Gatlinburg, TN. (Another 5 hours.) There, we ate as much pancakes as we could, found an incredible pizza place, and went to Ripley's Believe it or Not. I realize this isn't a romantic venue for an anniversary trip, but we had a blast....




We also hit up Dollywood, and I braved (stomached might be a better word) all the roller coasters. J and I love looking at the pictures after we get off the rides. He looks like a kid on Christmas. LOVES it. I on the other hand look like I am doing my very best not to loose my lunch on the person in front of me, God bless them. The funny thing is that I really do enjoy them. I'm just not the hold your hands over your head type of person. If SOMETHING goes wrong, I WILL be the person still clinging to the safety bar for dear life. I feel like my approach still gives me a small chance to live if the cart gets stuck upside down in the Ring of Fire.

Anyway, after Gatlinburg, we headed to Asheville, NC, which was supposed to be a 2 hour drive but was more like 4. We took the scenic route, which was incredible. Can't really go past 30 MPH, but the mountains are so beautiful, you wouldn't want to. (We even saw a little bear on the side of the road! )




The only negative thing: being a MS girl, I packed appropriately for the end of April: tanks and shorts. It's close to 95 degrees by that time of year in the South. Well, it was like 42 degrees at one point on our trip, so we had to hit up Belk for some warmer items. (Not that I minded shopping though.)

We stayed in a beautiful hotel in Lake Lure about 30 minutes outside of Asheville. Charming. It was about 5 minutes from where they filmed Dirty Dancing, for all you fans. The first day we went to the Biltmore, which is something EVERYONE should see. Not just for girls. It's amazing. Jeremie's activity pick was whitewater rafting, which was a blast. When he told me the river we were going on, he said "Don't worry, the biggest drop is only 40 feet, but it's not all at one time." Of course I immediately starting yelling and about called the place to cancel. Of course he was joking...... We also went hiking at Chimney Rock Park which was breathtaking. Totally showed me how out of shape I was, but a good time.







The ride home was long, but that goodness for books on CD. And Krispy Kreme. Jeremie and I tallied the states we'd been through, and it was 5. We pretty much visited the Southeastern Conference.

We had so much fun and it was wonderful spend some quality time with my wonderful husband who loves to travel and see new things just as much as I do. I am blessed.

A Year Ago Today......

We became Mr. & Mrs. Wells! What an incredible day it was! Jeremie and I have had an amazing year full of change, but lots of fun. I love being married to the man of my dreams who also happens to be my best friend.....We've had a blast and I look forward to all the years to come.

The Gobbler at our Roost....

So J and I had a pretty excited morning today. J got up about 7:30 to take Manny out, and came back to bed, where I was already starting Part 2 of sleeping in. (We typically get up about 8:30 or 9:00 for church.) We sleep with the windows open when it is cool, and about 2 minutes after trying to go back to sleep, we both hear a turkey gobble outside and immediately sit up in bed and give each other the "Did you HEAR THAT?" look. We both agreed it was time to go hunting, so we hurriedly threw some camo on, each grab a gun, and headed out the door. We sat down about 100 yards from the house, and within about 20 minutes, here comes the gobbler. Too far for me to shoot though. So the bird roamed around towards where J was, but too far from him as well. (He did execute a Rambo-esque crawl on the ground to try to get to the turkey, which I could tell made him feel so manly man) We got back together, re-situated (moved closer, but I didn't crawl) and J started calling again. The turkey came right in front of me, so I took a shot. Turkey flew off. No, that's not supposed to happen. Yes, I missed. I'm admitting it on this blog, so please do not ask how I missed or taunt me about this. J has taken well-care of that today.

Nevertheless, we had a great time and J was thrilled since he's really never called up a turkey before. (I think he also enjoyed wearing his new fancy turkey vest and using his calls. It's like how I feel when I sport a new purse.)

We also think it's incredible that we live somewhere that we can hear a turkey gobble while we're laying in bed.....and walk out the door to hunt....!!! Who gets to do that?

And to think my dad is about to drive 12 hours to Missouri for turkey hunting.......

Oh Savannah!!!

A few weeks ago, we celebrated J's 30th Birthday in "The Hostess of the South": Savannah, GA. We had a great time, it is such a charming town with so much history. The town was a planned city, so it has all these beautiful squares every 3 or so blocks that are adorable. If you didn't know, Forest Gump was filmed in Savannah, one of these squares houses where he sat on that famous bench. Look familiar?

We stayed in what was supposed to be a haunted hotel, went on several tours, and must I even mention, ate like kings and queens. One of our favorite places was St. John's Cathedral, which was absolutely beautiful.

Being the traditional person I am, I wasn't going to let J get away without having an official birthday party including unwrapping gifts and birthday cake. We toted all the gifts up to our hotel room that our families sent (might I add were carefully wrapped in duck tape) where we celebrated. Thanks to all who sent gifts to complete the party.




Personally, one of my favorites was the caramel apple covered with pecans. J like the Ice Cream at the creamery. Like, I said, we don't go hungry. We had a great time......

Three's Company.....

There is much to blog about, but I think most everyone is most interested in the new addition to our family-Manny.

Our new black and tan Aussie mix is our new pride and joy. We adopted Manny from the Bainbridge Humane Society. Bainbridge was the third shelter I went to, and when I walked in and saw that little sad face and wagging tail, I knew Manny was our guy. (BTW, Jeremie had originally found a picture of him online, which led me to Bainbridge......I know J will point out that HE found Manny.)

Here is our Little Buddy.



Since Jeremie was on call the day I went Puppy Shopping, he gave me specific criteria to follow with picking out a new pooch. NO shedder, NO "yappy" dog, and NOTHING with the name "chihuahua" or "pit bull". A short "interview with Manny proved that he was a little shy, loved belly rubs, and licking your face. I loaded him up, picked up all things puppy at Wal-Mart, and took him home to his new daddy.

Manny already loved his new home and was "marking his territory" everywhere. Much to our pleasure, none of this marking happened in the house.....

That evening we had dinner at a friends house who have 2 much larger dogs, but they all got along great and by the end of the night, Manny was making him self at home sitting on THEIR dog's beds and eating their dogs food.....

We went bed in complete bliss that we had landed a no barking, no shedding, a good socialite dog. THEN....squealing, barking, whining, crying, and every imaginable noise a dog can make emanated from Manny's crate. He was going nuts. Not knowing how long this would last, my only thought was "this was a big mistake." The good news is that Manny's fit didn't last long and he is now sleeping quietly.

Jeremie absolutely loves his little buddy. Jeremie has actual conversations with him, they go on long walks in the woods together, and even cuddle a little. (Should I be worried?)

I tell Jeremie that the reason he loves Manny so much is that he's just like me, in a dog form: We love to eat, sleep, cuddle, and get lots of attention. We'll keep you all posted on our child often....

Things Got a Little Squirrely.....

This was an email to Meg and Mary, but they got such a kick out of it, they insisted I post it. Pretty good story from a couple weekends ago:

J found a baby squirrel in our wood pile Friday night before our guests arrived. He’s pumped. (Actually, I think he was just trying to get me pumped, b/c a few minutes later he told me he broke a piece of my Vietri china.) He puts the squirrel in a box with a towel and puts the box on the dinner table. That’s right, rodent on the dinner table. Jenn and Bart cautiously asked if we were having roasted squirrel.

Anyway, after dinner, J and Bart decide they want to rig up a pen for the squirrel to play in. So they get our mesh net hamper turn it upside down and DUCK TAPE it to the box. Everyone knows a squirrel can chew through mesh, but the boys didn’t listen to me and Jenn.

The new pen is put in our bedroom. Later, the boys go in there to give him some milk and cut a “trap door” (sounds so McGuyver) and low and behold, Houdini, (what we named the squirrel afterwards) had disappeared. So they shut the door to the bedroom and we hear banging and running like a bull in a china cabinet. Just like the Chevy Chase movie. They are successful and catch the squirrel. Scared the poop out of it. Literally.

Like boys that haven’t learned their lesson, they put him BACK in the box, but reinforce it with more duck tape. Before we all go to bed, we check on Houdini, and as J is looking for him, I see the little rodent run across my closet!!! J pushes me out of the bedroom, shuts the door, and him and Bart go to work again. Successful. (I’m gonna really see how good he is in a greased pig contest one day.) Jenn and I are cracking up.

The boys are disappointed with their rigged up pen and go downstairs. We hear more banging and drilling. They come back with one of my nice blue storage tubs that now has drilled “airholes” in it and a real “trap door”. Houdini is now challenged.

Houdini is also nocturnal. In the middle of the night, I wake up to LOUD scratching, and squirrel barking, if you will. I was ticked, and very afraid that J’s rigged storage tub would not be successful and I was going to wake up to a squirrel in my pajamas later in the evening. Luckily he didn’t get out.

Not so luckily, Houdini didn’t make it through the weekend. We don’t know if he was sick already or what, but bottom line is J and I already killed our first pet.

Don’t think we’re ready for kids.

A Very MARRIED Christmas

Christmas season as newlyweds has been so much fun for us! I LOVE Christmas and couldn't wait to get all my stuff out to decorate. Of course, the first adornment had to be the tree. Which MUST be real. Jeremie believes fake Christmas trees are a sin. So we headed to a plant nursery here in town, where we strategically chose our first tree, I stole some branches for decorating, and off we were, just like Chevy Chase with it tied to the truck.

The living area of our new place is actually on the 2nd floor, so the two of us lugging a very full 7 foot Frasier Fur up the stairs was quite entertaining. I decorated, and Jeremie watched, informing me of places I missed, that looked like they needed an ornament. : ) He actually got in the Christmas spirit and decorated the balcony while giving me a great rendition of Jingle Bell Rock. Here is our work of art.




And here is Jeremie in the Christmas Spirit.



Not really sure where he got the idea to pair a Cabana hat with a Wyatt Earp scarf. He always keeps me entertained.


Jeremie's parents also visited in December, just in time for the Victorian Christmas Night in Thomasville, which is a really charming town about 30 minutes from here. Now these people love Christmas. They shut down the entire downtown and have carriage rides, a live nativity, carolers, fake snow, and of course, lots of food. We had a blast.



BTW, this was the Snow Princess in the rug shop in town.....I hope she's ready to relinquish her place on top of the Rug Mountain, because I think I want to be the Snow Princess next year......beware honey....





The next day we took them to the Tallahassee Car Museum, which should really be called the Hobby Museum, because they had a collection of every topic you'd ever imagine. It was so cool. There was everything from the first Model T off the assembly line to the Batman car used in one of the movies. It was like stepping back in time, literally; they even had a car like the one from Back to the Future!! We had a great time. It was great to have Cate and Mitch at our new home!




Christmas came around quickly, and we headed back to MS. We were able to spend lots of time with our families: breakfast in pajamas at Jeremie's grandparent's and traditional lunch with my family at Grammy and Big Jack's. The next night we had my mom's second annual "Souper Saturday" where I got to see my dad's side of the family. (And load up on about 7 different types of soups..hey, it's Christmas.)

The holidays makes us thankful for our loving families, good health, and God's grace. He's been so good to us, and we look forward to what he leads us to in the new year.