Beach Trip 2011

Yahoooooo!!!!  The most looked forward to vacation has finally arrived! Lots of sand, big waves, big breakfasts, big sunburns, big laughs, big domino tournaments, and. . . . whats that???  Oh wait!  Never mind, pack up ya'll, we're leaving. . . .

Yep, that was basically our story this year due to hurricane Irene.  This blog post is a little late, (obviously) but a week ago we had to evacuate from Emerald Isle, Atlantic Beach due to that uninvited guest of a hurricane.  Thankfully, we got to spend most of the week there pretty much uninterrupted.  We left for the beach Saturday the 20th and then actually left the beach Thursday the 25th, just a few days earlier than usual.  Oh well, I'm glad we got out in time at any rate.  We had a BLAST while we were there which is apparent from the pictures :D

This was a tidal pool that gathered right in front of our beach house.  The current was so strong that it pulled Ben along like a water slide

 

*CUTIE PIE!!!!!*

Dad and papa making bacon for breakfast :P

 Our morning walk at 6:30 am :) we are insane for all of you CRAZY late sleepers :P

We had a glow stick party on the last night there.  John Wilson is in the bow tie, Ben and Caelen in the halos, Nate in the halo with glow ring around neck, and me in the glasses :P

We always make sure to have a good time one way or another.....hurricane or not :D

Great Time With Old Friends

Wow! I can't believe that we hadn't been back to Ringgold in 3 years!!! It seems like we have lived in North Carolina for forever, but I guess it really was just 5 years ago. WOW! Time flies too fast!

While we were in VA, we got to visit with most of our old friends there, and I just wanted to say thank you to the Bounds, Vogltanz, Fultures, Slaughters, Robbins, and Haleys for coming out to see us and for having our family in their homes.....it really meant a lot to us :D

Me, Caelen, and Madison Vogltanz who used to be our neighbor in VA

2 crazy gals! :P

Our old home. It was sooo beautiful.....

Check the silkie page at the top of my blog page to see changes in the flock :(

Apologia Conference GA

Well, we got back from another Apologia conference in Atlanta GA . . . very tired, but we had lots of fun. It seems like we have traveled more in this one summer than ever before in my life! Thankfully, my family LOVES traveling and I'm just blown away at the opportunity that Apologia has given us to travel all over America!

The view from our hotel

Our booth

The Fullbrights were our "booth buds" for the Atlanta Conference this time

When the conference was over, we went to Big Chow Grill; a stir fry restaurant that was simply AMAZING!!!!! :P

Oh! And if you hear my new song on the ipod on the side of my blog, it is called, 'Hold Me' by Jamie Grace. We heard it on the way back from the conference, and I just thought it was sooo neat! It is about how God holds us even when things are not going exactly the way we want them to. So enjoy, and have a great weekend! I know I am looking forward to mine :)

In Christ,

Hannah ;)

In Raleigh with Aunt Su. . .

Aunt Susan had Caelen and I over to her house in Raleigh for a few days, and when Aunt Suey finds out that you have never been to Raleigh, she goes all out to make sure you see all the sights, and experience everything there is to be experienced! ;) We did everything from taking a tour of the city in a rickshaw, to attending a movie on the lawn with the Sound of Music singalong.

To say the least, we had a blast walking around with, sweating with, and laughing with Aunt Susan, her friend Nichole, and Margo (our cousin). Thank you everybody for making our trip sooo much fun! :P

Caelen got to see her beloved Egyptian artifacts at the art museum. . . can you tell she was a little excited???

I thought it was neat that the History museum had an exhibit on the Judaculla Rock when my family and the Sealy family just saw it in person 2 weeks ago!

This was a very old (beautiful) house there in town that hasn't been lived in or even bought for the longest time because there is a rumor that it is haunted. . . come on now, really?

Caelen loved her some purple house :P

Oh! And our trip to Raleigh wouldn't have been complete without a trip to the famous cupcake shoppe. . .which. . .was. . .uh. .closed. How convenient!

Aunt Suey's lovely little house! :)

More things that made me smile

Here are a couple of more things that made me smile at the end of the day. . .

Hanging out with the horses

My new ipod that I saved up for and bought a few days ago :)

This picture :P (picture from google)

Playing around with photo editing (picnik)

Baking . . . and of course eating what I bake :D

Recipe for gooey chocolate butter brownies

Here is a recipe that I made up a few days ago when I had a hankering for something sweet, but couldn't find anything satisfying in the cookbooks:

Ingredients :

*1 stick of butter (softened)

*2 small pinches of salt

*1 cup of sugar

*1 tsp vanilla

*2 Tbl cocoa powder

*1 egg

*1 1/2 cup self rising flour

*3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

____________________________________________

Directions:

*pre-heat oven to 350 and grease and 8 x 11" pan

*Mix sugar, butter, and salt in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer

*Stir in vanilla & cocoa powder

*Add egg and mix in

*Mix (or stir) flour in

*Stir in chocolate chips

*Put batter in greased pan and place in oven for about 35 minutes

*Take out when it is still a little underdone (but not uncooked) and wait to cool for about 10 minutes.

*Cut into squares and ENJOY!!!

CAUTION!!!  This is a fattening recipe and after looking over the ingredients again, I can't believe that we didn't all roll over and die of heart attacks!  But. . . if it is something sweet you crave, then this is the right recipe for you :)

Happy 4th!

This is a very quick post because we are just about to head over to a friend's house to celebrate, but I wanted to wish everyone a very happy 4th of July!
 So whether you're watching fireworks, going over to friend's or family's house, or hanging out at your own house tonight. . . .just remember the sacrifice that our forefathers made for this country so that we could be free to celebrate this Independence day!