Yes, I must say that my job has taken over my life the past couple of weeks. 14 days straight will do that I guess.  I usually stay pretty balanced, and have been blessed with a steady stream of work, phone calls, and emails at all hours of the evening (which I really do love!). However, travel and some marathon sessions have taken their toll on me today. I really didn’t realize it until just a second ago, when I was getting ready to get back to working at the computer and I was going to blog about some new products.  I came back from photographing the new products and entered my office to see the picture below. I started crying. Little Bobby is sitting on my work chair with his bone in his mouth.  He just wants to play, and I keep putting it off because I have put my job before my family the past couple of weeks.  Therefore, there will always be another day to post about the new products. Instead, I am going to go play with Little Bobby until the hubby gets home. I am going to bake some bread. I am going to make a nice dinner. I may even go for a walk.  :) Until tomorrow….

Kristen (great name by the way) is such a great girl! Seriously, she is not only beautiful, but smart and funny!  I mean, what else could you ask for! ?  I have known Kristen for years! She grew up in the Chicago area and her 8th grade year, her family moved to Central Illinois (where I lived).  Our friendship didn’t come until 9th grade.  We met in church.  We both could not find the High School  Sunday school class.  Kristen, you know, the one where our Sunday school teacher brought donuts in every morning but we would never eat because their were way too many calories (or maybe that was just me..haha). Our friendship started in church, and of course grew outside of Church. Even though our lives have taken us in completely different directions (her city, me country), we still have this friendship that is amazingly comfortable and non judgemental.  

Chris and I decided yesterday afternoon that we wanted a good, home cooked meal…on the fire. Yes, it was like 90 degrees yesterday and we were cooking on the fire with sweat dripping down our faces and all. But let me tell you, there is nothing like burning wood that you cut (okay, it was Chris that cut it all) and watching the heat cook your food! Little Bobby hung out with us as well and ran around playing with sticks (mulch) and watched the fire from the bench. What was on the menu? Fresh mushrooms, baked potatoes, and deer tenderloins.  Of course we were so hot from cooking that we went into the house to eat it! :) 

Well, this has been a great week for blackberry picking (minus all the chigger bits I have all over) and for our garden. I decided that this weekend, I had to prove it to myself that I “could can”! I have to admit, I have been very excited about our garden and canning this year….even though it totally intimidates me!!  My biggest worry? Following the recipe direction from my Ball Blue Book.  I am horrible at following recipes for some reason. I always feel that I don’t have to put as much sugar in this, or butter in that….that is how I am and it drive my husband CRAZY!!  However, he was very proud of my Blackberry Jam and it turned out perfect (if I do say so myself)!

And here are some of the veggies we picked from the garden this weekend. Holly Cow we have so many potatoes and still more potatoes to hoe out of the garden!! I had never planted potatoes before and we did it on a whim. Chris and I had some potatoes that were “wilty” in the pantry and we just cut them in 5 or 6 pieces, planted them, and bam…we have fresh potatoes!!

Autumn Olive Photography was Business of the week at Mountain 1st Bank and Trust last week! PS. I have nothing but praise to say for the staff at the Marion Branch! Not only are they very friendly, but you can also leave with an ice cream sandwich and slurpee (no joke)!!  

A lot had happened last week and when the weekend came, all we wanted to do was hang out around the house, in the comfort of our home, with each other (this is my perspective of course..haha).  It seems that sometimes we are so busy that we don’t get time to get caught up around the place.  And even though we might be working around the land/house separately, just knowing we are close by and working toward the same goal is such a great feeling in my heart. Our weekend in a nutshell…slept at the lake in our sleeping bags,mowed, mulched, planted new trees, washed decks, drove around to see the farms,I learned stick shift, hiked, ice cream (I mean we had to fill our bellies after the hike ) and finally late Sunday afternoon nap time!  Yes, it was a great time even though it was busy. Now off to pack for IL! 

Some images from the weekend with our little point and shoot camera!

Yesterday Chris washed up the old truck for Church. We had been wanting to get it out for sometime…it just seems like life gets too busy sometimes. After church we went back to the house, changed, picked up Little Bobby and went to Morganton (the next town over). One cannot be in a hurry while driving the old truck. We usually coast at about 40mph. We took the back roads as to not slow anyone else down. I love how the old and young wave at us while we are in the truck and how the old men will stop to talk to us or give up a “thumbs up”. We stopped at a gas station before taking our mini-trip. While at the station, an older man came up to us and started talking. We were both sitting in the truck and out of no where, the old man started crying and saying that he just buried his wife. He went on to talk about his wife and what a great lady she was. My eyes were watering up and it made me realize how lucky I was to have Chris by my side and how I hope can can grow old together. The old man was in our minds the rest of the afternoon. Chris and I went on to eat lunch at a BBQ joint and went for a walk on the Morganton Greenway. It was a perfect afternoon…..but why is it that we are always in such a hurry in life? Does it really matter if the laundry didn’t get folded today or the grass not mowed…will one day really hurt in the whole realm of life? Now…off to do the laundry…one day late!

The grass was so green this weekend that I had to take some pictures of my favorite shoes with the green grass!

This afternoon, after I was done running some errands, I came home to Chris working on the other end of the land on a fence. We are working on getting part of our land set up for cows! Who knew that it took so much time and HARD work to put up a fence for cows….!! Not to mention $$$!! Oh well, we will get through it…I mean, I know I will….I just talk his head off while he is sweating and digging and all that manly stuff. I offer to help, but assume I will just get in the way…so I talk away. We are hoping to have at least 5 acres fenced in. Once we get that done, we will get a couple cows, and work on fencing in more of the land at that time. So, you may ask…why cows? ! ? I would have laughed at myself 10 years ago and would have never believed such a thing!! We mostly just want to raise our own, hormone free beef!!

Little Bobby watching daddy work hard! It is so funny…Chris will throw roots and limbs over the bank to get them out of the way. Little Bobby runs after them and thinks Chris is throwing a stick for him to fetch!

I picked some wildflowers from our field while Little Bobby was playing in the creek.

And finally, on my way up to the house, I grabbed my basket and walked to our garden to pick some spinach and leaf lettuce for dinner tonight! I love warm weather!

Well, today is a travel day. It is like 3:30am and we are headed out the door! I am sooo not a morning person!! Here was the highlight of my day from yesterday! Flowers delivered to me!

Oh, and Happy Earth Day!!

Daisies….my favorite! 2 Red roses for 2 years!

Pasty me…..I really like the photo of me 2 years ago in my white dress better than this one (but Chris made me post it this morning…ahhhh)

Today Chris and I celebrate 2 wonderful years of marriage! It was such a perfect day! There were daisies everywhere (my favorite flower), the weather was perfect (I was so scared with it being an outdoor wedding), but best of all, I had the man of my dreams! We got married at the Rumbling Bald resort in Lake Lure, NC. Our wedding day was followed by a day of rest then a week long trip to Playa Del Carmen. Chris and I have grown so much closer in the past two years and I am so excited to see what the future holds for us!