My Bunny Cake

My Dad's mom, my Memaw Maxine has a special place in my heart and a lot of my memories are based around holidays with her. One of those holidays was Easter. Each Easter she would make a bunny cake with fur sitting in green grass. :) After she passed the tradition kind of fell apart. Last year I expressed that I was interested in bringing this memory back to life and make it a tradition again. Last year my mom and my sister LeAnn attempted the cake with me. This year I did it all by myself. Take a look at how it started and ended.

He should have PINK ears. But I opened EVERY construction paper packet the store had and NO pink paper. I was more than sad but felt like I gave it my best shot and earned me the title of "that lady" in the store. I was very proud of how my bunny cake came out this Easter. It was so cute we didn't even cut him. He just served as a counter decoration and then we tossed him. I hope you have fun family traditions. I'm a big tradition person and can't wait to have my own family to pass traditions along.

A good date with good friends...

My friend Julianne was kind enough to post pictures from our date night a few weeks back, so I thought I would blog.

We decided to go on one last date as couples.....we are taking a 4 month break from each other, thanks to the Air Force. Andy was deployed on Easter Sunday and Julianne and the boys have gone back to Washington to be with her family while Andy is gone.

The four of us LOVE wings so we went to Raleigh and hit up Wing Cafe, YUM! I think between the four us we had something like 75 wings, that is some kind of serious eating. After dinner we joined the Corn Hole Tournament. The boys went ALL THE WAY....they won us a $25.00 gift card. As for Julianne and I....we entertained ourselves by talking.

It was a great night and we have some pictures to prove it....

I have no idea...they are weird :)

....and that is why they love US!!!

Group photo...I think the one is a framer.

If you would keep Andy in your prayers...also Julianne and their two boys. Justin and I have talked alot about Andy leaving. There has been a war going on for years...it has never directly impacted our lives. We have men and woman fighting for our freedom and our life never changes. Those men/ladies are daddy's, husbands, sons, brothers, wives, moms, sisters...etc and we live our life like nothing is happening. Andy is the first person we really knew to have to be deployed and it makes it more personal, it really makes you understand what is happening and how it impacts not only them but their families. It makes me very thankful and proud all at the same time.

Happy Birthday Dawson!!!

On March 29th my nephew Dawson turned 8 years old. WHAT THE HECK? He is supposed to be a baby and now he is in second grade, playing pitching machine baseball, reading chapter books, and talking back to his mother. He is officially growing up. Although we talk on the phone and web cam when we can.....I was unable to make it home for his big birthday. Which doesn't seem like such a big deal to you...but to his favorite aunt who has NEVER missed his birthday (including his birth) was a tad sad. :( Take a look at how he has grown over the years.

Part II of our company the Haire and the Waning families...

A couple of weeks back Justin's family came to visit us. Josh who is Justin's older brother, Nikki who is Josh's wife, and their one year old little girl Kendyl were passing through on their way to the beach. Justin's sister Jenn also decided to come the same weekend with Peter (4) and Stephanie (22ish months) If you haven't noticed the Haire family has a "J" issue. They have 6 children...all with "J" names...John David, Jen, Josh, Jake, Justin, and Jordan!! My mom couldn't get our names right with all DIFFERENT letters. HA

Anyway....the weekend was VERY low key and couldn't have been more perfect. Friday night everyone was super tired from traveling in the rain so we ordered in Pizza and headed to bed early. Justin made it home at a decent time to catch up and have dinner with us.

Saturday the Camels had games and that was going to be our "entertainment"...if that's what you call it. But like most other days this spring the flood gates opened and the field was just too wet to play. (so the Campbell staff said) I think Josh was more upset about this than anyone. We didn't realize the game was canceled because the sun was out...so we got all dressed up and drove in just to catch the team pulling the tarp. We took FULL advantage of this wide open space and the time with "Uncle Justin". Here are a few pictures of our day at the ball park on that "RAINY" day.

This is everyone minus Jen...she was taking the picture

Jen and Stephanie

Nikki and Kendyl

The little girls in front of the CU sign....

Pete and some props we found. :) Pete and Uncle Justin on the gator...we took a few laps around the field!!

Later that day we got to go out to eat and enjoy Sunny Skies....which is a famous homemade ice cream shop in town....which was FABULOUS!!!! Later that night we sat around and talked till the weeee hours of the morning. Isn't that what all families do? Sunday the Haire's got up and packed for the beach. The Waning's joined boyfriend and I at church. The kids were perfect and we really enjoyed having them as our guests. Later that day we attempted a nap but it was just to pretty outside....so we went back out to the field to play. :) Like I said, we had a really low key weekend, but it couldn't have been more perfect. Just having family close and sharing everyday things are special. We can't wait to see them again...which will be MAY!!! Just a few more weeks. :)

Blogging Goals...

I promise I have not given up on Blogging. Please don't give up on me. I have a few goals I would like to accomplish here soon. I figure if I shared them you all would keep me accountable about following through.

1. The Haire Family's visit-Part II of our company
2. Dawson's Birthday
3. Opening Day Week
4. The Bunny Cake

There ya go...4 post to come!!! Get excited!!!

I'm the newest Hotel in town...would you like to make a reservation?

I complain when I have nothing to blog about and I don't blog when I have things to blog about. We have been so busy. We had 8 people in our house and non stop company for 9 days. We loved every minute of it, but it was exhausting! I'll start with our first round of company and go from there....I told you that Bryan and Rebecca were coming to town. Rebecca and I had planned a number of things to do, so we had an idea of what the week was going to look like. We picked them up on Sunday and went to downtown Apex to a little Pizzeria to catch up. We knew we would have a busy day on Monday because we were going to the BEACH! Justin had to work but I took off to spend the day with our company. We headed out early and Bryan made an AMAZING discover on a billboard...a WINERY!!! We HAD to stop!! We had never been and all of us were curious. We were given a free tour and a free wine tasting.

After our tour and our tasting we had lunch at the Bistro at the winery for lunch, it was the cutest little place!! I feel sure Justin and I will go back some time, it would be a great place for a date! We had to hit the road, Rebecca was getting antsy. Although Bryan and I could have camped out at the winery....we gave in to her and headed towards the beach. My first time at a Carolina Beach...I thought it was really nice...another place I would like to go again.

The sun was out, but it was a little windy. ALMOST the perfect day at the beach. We spent a few hours laying out, taking pictures, and picking up shells...it was very relaxing! We really missed Justin...all three of us had moments during the day when we said, "I wish Justin was here!" So we decided to have a moment for Justin....We laughed and laughed about this!!!

We were over the beach and wanted to visit the Aquarium before we left the beach...

After the aquarium we grabbed a good seafood dinner and headed home. The next day we enjoyed watching the Camels play ball...they played ECU and lost by one run. It was a sad end...but one of the best games I have seen them play. The next day Rebecca and I rented TWILIGHT...it was soooooo good!! Then that night we went to a Hurricanes game (hockey) It's a big deal around here, so I wanted them to experience it. After the game boyfriend met us in downtown Raleigh for a little dueling piano action. All in all we really enjoyed having them here with us. We can't wait to see them again!!