Crews'n Through the Weekend

Well this post certainly requires a little back ground. Most of you know my cousin Stephanie. She is very special to me and she and I have always been very close despite the fact that she lives in Florida and I live in Alabama. I remember being in middle school and we would write each other letters (back before email!) She is someone that I have looked up to my entire life. She is always loads of fun to be around, she is very stylish and hip, she is an amazing mom and she has the sweetest and loving heart. She has 3 boys (I am godmother to all 3) and she has one little angel girl. Steph and Toby mean the world to me as family and as friends. Steph was even my maid of honor. Living so far away we don't get together quite as often as I would like, but when we are together it is always time well spent making fun memories.

Well this weekend Toby, Steph, Landon, Baylor, Corbin and Emmi all made their way to compass lake to spend the weekend with Justin and me. It was so much fun. As you can tell from the pictures we spent a lot of time on the dock and in the water and of course the boys had a blast jumping and flipping off the dock. The boys are all into wrestling, which Uncle Justin is thrilled about. Those of you who may wonder what the Hicks family watches on Monday night....well we watch WWE Wrestling! Awesome! I survive through it every week only because Justin finds it to be entertaining - I know that he watches girly stuff that he wouldn't necessarily choose to watch to my benefit and this is just his thing (along with sports too). I believe that he and Mr. Randy watched it from a young age and for some unknown reason it actually stuck. The Crews boys watch and record every match that they can. Did you know that wrestling comes on 3 nights per week. Well I try and keep it down to just one night at our house, but it sounds like the Crews' watch it as often as possible...again its a boy thing and can I just give a shout out to Emmi right now....Thankfully God gave Steph a little girl and one day they'll be watching chicky things while the boys are watching wrestling and sports till they are blue in the face. But it is funny to watch 3 boys use pillows as people to do the wrestling move - at least they aren't doing it to the each other. Justin talked trash with them through out the weekend - which was funny considering he is 31 and he is talking wrestling smack with 8, 6 and 4 year old's!

Little Emmi G is such a sweet baby. Very easy and content, she is so good. She can sleep through anything - I guess that you don't have an option when you have 3 crazy older brothers. The boys are all so sweet with Emmi, loving on her and making sure that she has all that she needs. Emmi even got to go on her first boat ride and she did so good. She loved Ashlyn's swing and seemed to enjoy floating in the water. As long as she is with everyone she is so happy. They are all such sweet and kind hearted kids...I just love 'em!

Last week before we left for the lake Justin went and picked blueberries. He picked for an hour and got a gallon's worth of blueberries. They are so yummy and sweet! So, now I am working to use a gallon of blueberries so that they won't go bad. I did make a blueberry buckle (thanks Aunt Jackie for the recipe) over the weekend it was really yummy, although the oven at the lake cooks hot and I over cooked it just a little. But with a little vanilla ice cream all was right in the world. This week I'm going to do my best to make some blueberry bread YUMMY! I love having fresh fruit - I was so proud that Justin went and spent time to do that and it was well worth the time to have such fresh and sweet berries.

To the Crews family - I love yall and thank you so much for sharing your weekend with us. Can't wait to do it again soon. Love you so much!

Doggy Adventure

Well last week I was driving home from the grocery and came across a little beagle walking in the middle of the road. Being the dog lover that I am I stopped and he came right to me. After petting him I opened my car door and he jumped right in. Hummm, my first thought was that someone is missing a sweet little beagle puppy. He had no collar and after taking him to the vet, I realized that he was a little skinny and was covered in fleas. He must have been wondering for days. The vet was nice enough to give him a de-wormer and some flea and tick meds. I then drove around for about an hour going to different houses and neighborhoods to see if anyone recognized him. No such luck. I did find a man who said he may be interested in beagle man (that is what I called the dog) if I don't find his owner. I put up a few signs at some of the local businesses in our neighborhood. I was mostly worried that someone would be missing their family pet. I brought him home, much to Justin's dislike and he sat on our front porch and was just so happy. Well to make a very long story short...I called the guy the next day and he did want beagle man. It took us 2 days to finally connect but he did finally get to go to a new home. I've received no calls and haven't seen any 'Lost Dog' signs for a beagle. He is just so cute and was so good. He didn't like the back yard, but loved being on the front porch. So that is where he stayed for 3 days. It was a bit stressful, as I was so very worried that I was going to have to take him to the animal control shelter. Humane Society doesn't take strays - which bothers me because I thought that was what they were for. I'm sure they are totally overflowing, but still. It also infuriates me that someone may have possibly let this dog go or dropped it off. Either way why doesn't he have a collar. Who hasn't been taking care of this precious and sweet dog. People do it every day, hence the reason that the humane society is over stocked. OK - that was my small soapbox...I'm off.

It was a learning experience. I always want to stop when I see lost dogs wandering around but I have learned a valuable lesson that I became the one responsible for this pup once I took him in. It is also hard to balance a stray dog when I have two of my own and I didn't have a clue what this dog may have ...so I never let Doc or Brinkley around little Beagle man, which was a back and forth in sharing the back yard. Justin asked me to not do this again - which he knows better and so then he asked if I will ONLY save dogs with collars so that we can easily find its home. I probably won't do it again (at least not for a while), but it was so very rewarding to give him to a new owner who was so excited to have a dog. He has a little girl who has been telling him that all she wants to do is walk a dog on a leash. Well, some sweet little girl now has a precious dog to walk. So that was my doggy adventure. Saving a dog is a lot of work by the way. And I will leaving you with some words of wisdom from my sweet husband..."You can't save the world one dog at a time!"

Stay tuned for our weekend update with the crews family...

The Lake Tour

Last weekend we spend the weekend with the Nix's at smith lake. It was such a fun and relaxing weekend. Chris and Melissa are great host and the weather was great so we spent a lot of time on the water. We also got in several games of Cranium in for some night time entertainment. I love to play games and it is a guarantee that we will be game playing when we are invited to the Nix's. Thank you both for a fun and wonderful weekend. Not to mention that it is awesome to leave on Sunday and ONLY have a one hour drive home....verses 4 hours! Wow.

We boarded Doc and Brink for the weekend and it was very nice, was better than I expected and they were actually tired when they got home instead of wired like they usually are. But they stayed at a pet resort this time instead of the vet! Hooray.

Our next stop is....COMPASS LAKE.... and the victims are my cousin's Steph, Toby, Landon, Baylor, Corbin and Emerson! I am so excited about a weekend with this family. They are a fun family who hold a special piece of my heart. Looking forward to a fun and crazy weekend (what do expect with 3 boys and a sweet baby girl?)

Pix from the weekend

Compass Lake

Well this afternoon we arrived at the lake for our long weekend to celebrate July 4th. I love this weekend for many reasons. First because it is always a long weekend if not an entire week that we spend down here in our little slice of heaven. And Secondly because this was the weekend that Justin proposed to me...on our sunset cruise in 2005. Not to mention we get to spend some time with Chris, Amanda and Ashlyn.

So, this afternoon we got here and shortly after our arrival it started to thunder and lightening. The brewing of an afternoon shower. And our cabin has a tin roof. Have you ever heard rain on a tin roof? Sitting on the porch where there is no insulation or anything just tin and rain. The sound is simply therapeutic and relaxing. You hear every drop of rain that comes down. My favorite is when it rains so hard that you can not hear anything else and it did just that today. It didn't last long, just a quick welcome shower to cook off the afternoon heat. It was perfect and I wished that it had lasted longer. Tomorrow will be filled with BBQ, boating, sunning and fireworks with our family and friends. I'll post pictures when we get back because I will have a ton.

I do hope that you all have an amazing and safe July 4th weekend. As we celebrate our freedom and think and prayer for all of the military and their families for giving us our continued freedom. Thinking about the men and women on foreign soil serving and protecting our country and I have the freedom to enjoy rain on a tin roof, a weekend with family and friends on the lake, and especially the freedom of serving and praising our Lord and Savior. I will be lifting our country up to God for His protection on our country and for the guidance in where we are headed.

Happy 4th of July every one! Love to all!