Dehydrator

Mr. Hunt bought a Dehydrator last week. He is in a health kick and is eating alot of protein and hardly any carbs. That's the goal at least. So Beef Jerky is the best snack for him.

He decided that he wanted to be able to make his own Beef Jerky, thinking it would be cheaper at least.

I'm not a huge fan of beef jerky, but Ill eat it if I had too. Mr. Hunt did make some out of a steak, and it tasted alot better than any other Beef Jerky I have ever had. Then the next night he made Beef Jerky from ground beef and spices. That one grossed me out a little bit so I didn't try it. Mr. Hunt said it was very good.

Then yesterday, we dehydrated some bananas. They were REALLY good! they tasted like banana bread to me. I liked them even when they were still a little mushy and not all dehydrated yet.

I'm excited to try to dehydrate some apples or another fruit. YUM! The ideas Mr. Hunt comes up with....

Little Dogs Meet Big Dogs

Mr. Hunt's twin brother, Michael and his wife, Rachel have three little Dachshunds! They are so sweet. Even though we live pretty close to them, we have never gotten the dogs together. The main reason being that our dogs are very big, and their digs are very small.

We finally decided that we should get them together and try to do it often, so that we would be able to get together more with all of them.

We decided that it was a better idea for them to come to our house so that we could put the big dogs up in their crates if we needed to. It was very interesting when they came.

I put River and Hannah outside in the backyard at first, and we brought one little dog out one at a time until they were used to each other.

At first, Chopper, Harley, and even Scooter were pretty scared. River and Hannah just wanted to play. All 5 dogs did really well. There were no fights, and nobody got hurt. Id say thats pretty good!

Once we went inside to watch the premier of So You Think You Can Dance, all three dachshunds went right up to sit on the top of the couch. They felt safe up there I guess. Well Hannah got right up there with them! It was funny!

River played for a little bit, but then really didn't notice they were there because he was eating a rawhide.

I think the meeting went well. I think the more we do it, the more they will get used to each other and it will be easier and easier.

My Subway Order

This is just so weird! I cant get over it. I went to the South Park Mall on Friday afternoon and went to the food court for lunch. I decided to be on the healthier side, and so I headed to the Subway.

Let me first mention that this was the second time I have ever been to this Subway. The only other time was a long time ago, even before I even moved to Charlotte.

Anyway, I walked up to the counter to order, and the boy said to me, "6" turkey on wheat?" I was speechless! That IS what I order almost every time. I switch up the bread sometimes, and I did this time, just so it wouldn't be so creepy that he knew my order.

I also like to get tuna, but not at Subway, I will get it at Jersey Mikes, or Quiznos. I asked the boy how he knew that that is what I wanted, and he just looked at me.

When I told Mr. Hunt about this, he laughed and just said that its "probably what every little white girl in shape gets."

Is this true? what do y'all order? I'm so confused, and a little scared. He didn't answer me when I asked how he knew the order?

Ive Created a Monster

Ive created a Monster! A massage monster. Yep you guessed who...Mr. Hunt. He loves massages now! He has had a few before but it wasn't until Valentine's day two years ago that we went to our first couples massage. He loved it! Of course I love them too!
He always talks about getting one ever since but we haven't had the time or the budget really.
We decided this weekend to treat ourselves to a couples massage and it was worth it! Now Mr. Hunt wants to become a member there.
We went to Massage Envy. They have a membership program there where you can pay a certain amount every month and that includes one massage a month. Any massage after that is 50% off. It seemed like a good deal, but pretty unrealistic for us. We really don't need to be paying money for one massage a month.
Mr. Hunt was almost convinced and was really into the idea. But don't worry, we decided against it. We figured that one massage at least every two months would be just fine.
I will be honest though, I cant wait for July now :)

Taylor's Dance Recital

Mr. Hunt and I just got back from watching Taylor's dance recital. This year she was in three dances. She was honestly the best one in her class. I was so proud of her.
Every time she comes over to our house, she goes in the dining room (where we still don't have any furniture) and she shows me all of her dances. I think she likes to show me because I told her how I was a dancer too.

It was so fun to see a dance recital. I miss dance a whole lot! Brought me back to the good ole days. I hope that she keeps up with it and does dance for along time so that I can share in the joy of it all! Good Job Tonight Taylor!!

Adventurous Trip to the Mountains

So Mr. Hunt and I headed up to the mountain house to visit family from out of town and to go white water kayaking last weekend. It was so much fun! I cannot wait to do it again. To be honest here, I was actually terrified. I read all about it online, and was freaking myself out! Just think about it, you will be in a kayak all on your own, (an inflatable one at that), going down 5 foot drops, in freezing cold water with a chance of rain. To top it off, Davis told me that you would have to stop on a dime in certain places to wait for others. Davis had gone before but he went on the lower rapids with my dad. This time we went on the higher rapids. All I could think about was having my kayak pop on a rock or me float away down the river while everyone else was stopped.

Now that we have done it, I cant wait to do it again. Yes the water was freezing, but that didn't matter because we were having so much fun! At one point I was having a hard time paddling because I was laughing so hard at Davis when he fell out of the kayak. I'm very surprised that I didn't fall out. I sure did come close. I also (along with everyone else) got stuck on a few rocks. We went about 4 miles down the river. There were some pretty big drops.

I think the scariest part was when the instructor told us that we were coming up on a very dangerous drop and to go off to the left side and get out of the kayak on one of the huge rocks. Their plan was to put us back in the water on the very left to avoid the dangerous drop. All of us made it except Dylan. He went right on down the dangerous drop. Me, as the big sister, about had a heart attack while everyone else was laughing. Luckily he made it down safe. Now he thinks he is a pro and can do anything.

There were 10 of us. It was Mr. Hunt and I and my two brothers, one of Dylan's friends Trey, my Uncle Jim, cousin Chad and his girlfriend Aly, and their two friends from Ohio. I think it made it even better that we all knew each other and that there werent any strangers. We were able to laugh at each other and have a good time.

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing by the lake and fishing. At one point the boys (Chad, Dylan, and Mr. Hunt) came back from their trip on the boat and said that they ended up catching somewhere around 30 fish in just a hour! That's one every 2 minutes! They came back because they got caught in the rain storm. I wonder if the fish were biting more because it was raining.

The fur babies spent their weekend at the doggie resort. There were too many people at the mountain house to have them there. They missed out though, and we cant wait to bring them next time.

I'm very happy that I finally got to meet my cousin Chad's girlfriend Aly. I have heard so much about her, but never met her. She was very nice, and I'm glad she is in the family. We talked alot during the trip and I think we both have alot in common.

It was a very fun but relaxing weekend. Who wants to go white water kayaking? I'm ready to go back right now.

Ronald McDonald House

One of my little precious flower girls is in three years of remission from cancer. Ever since her dad told me about her story, she has been very inspiring to me. I don't want to sound all mushy or anything but when I look at her, it is crazy to think that she, at 7 years old, has already been through more than I probably ever will in my life. She is a strong, happy, beautiful little girl with one false eye. She plays soccer, does gymnastics, is a brownie, and takes dance classes, and alot more. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like with only one eye to see out of, and I just couldn't imagine it. She does it all, and she is again, so inspiring.

Any whoo! When she did have cancer, her and her family lived in a Ronald McDonald house while she got better and still had to be close to the hospital. Even though that probably wasn't their ideal place to stay, it was probably the best choice.

Charlotte just opened their Ronald McDonald house about 2 weeks ago. Taylor's dad, Chris was invited to the grand opening. When he walked in the first thing he saw was Taylor's picture up on the wall. As they went through and toured the house, Chris then discovered that they named a room after Taylor (Taylor's Room)! He was so surprised! He also got to talk to the owner of all the Ronald McDonald houses, and he asked Chris how Taylor was doing. Chris was so surprised that he knew her name.

I asked Chris if "outside" people could go see it, and normally they cant, but they made an exception. I went with Chris, Taylor and Chandler and looked around. It was so surreal. Families come to live there in such a nice facility, but not to enjoy themselves. Every family there is hurting for one reason or another. Its not a good thing if you are there.

I am very thankful that I was able to go see what it was all about. I'm glad that there is such a thing so that families can have a few less things to worry about when they already are worrying about so many other things. Whenever I get a chance to donate to an organization, it will always be the Ronald McDonald house. You should too!

Updated from the iPhone

Well let's see if this works. I'm trying to post from my phone. I thought I remembered trying to do this once before and it didn't work. I have been pretty busy this week. Mr. Hunt and I were in the mountains last weekend visiting family and I left my camera there. I just received it in the mail from my uncle so now I can post some pictures from the trip. Also, mr.hunt was away on business and he always has the laptop so I couldn't update. Right now I am sitting on the couch being too lazy to go out to his car to get the laptop but I promise to make some time tomorrow to update. Talk to you then!

Worst Storm Yet

Last night was the worst storm that I have ever been in that I can remember. I knew that there were supposed to be some storms rolling in, but we have had some good weather up until last night.

Its important for me to start off by saying that I was never afraid of thunderstorms until a few years ago in college. I was driving home from work and talking to Mr. Hunt on my cell phone. There was a pretty bad thunderstorm, but I was trying to make it home safe. All of the sudden a tree got struck by lightning right in front of my car. A big ball of green light went traveling through the tree and it made a very weird noise. The tree then cracked and fell down right in front of my car. I had to slam on the breaks. The cell phone turned off and I dropped the phone. I made it home safe, but I was terrified to try to run into the apartment. I have been scared of thunderstorms ever since.

I remember being half asleep, half awake when I was suddenly woken up by what I thought was the house across the street getting hit by lightning. I just remember laying there, and all of the sudden a huge light and loud clap noise (loudest clap noise you have ever heard) happened all at once and my eyes opened as far as they could. I quickly yelled Mr. Hunts name to wake him up, but he was already awake too.

Normally Mr. Hunt doesn't wake up for any storm, so I knew when he was already awake that it must be bad. Mr. Hunt got out of bed to see if a house was struck, but he couldn't tell. He was just staring out the window saying, "I have never seen a storm this bad." Once he said that, I was freaking out. He checked the weather on his phone and we tried to get some sleep. I had the pillows covering my head. I was trying not to see the lightning or hear the thunder so loud, but it was impossible. It was literally one big constant lightning, and one big constant thunder. Our power went out and back on 4 times before it went out and stayed out. I was really upset at this point because I cant sleep very well without a fan on.

Finally the storm blew over and we both fell back asleep. When we woke up, still no power. We had to get ready for work in the dark. I ended up having a wrinkly shirt on with a hole in it and my hair was a rats nest. I planned on taking a shower, but not in the dark.

On my way to work I noticed a ton of trees down, peoples patio furniture in the roads (not to mention our patio furniture spread out in the backyard), and the radio mentioned that there were 65 mile and hour winds that night! What?!?! Good thing I didn't look out the window.

When I got to work, I asked around to see if anyone else had power. Only one other guy's house didn't have power, but two other guys said that they huddled in the closets last night during the storm.

Mr. Hunt got off work a little earlier than normal and he headed home around 3pm to find out that we still didn't have power. By this time it had been 14 hours. We started to make a plan of action on where we were going to go for the night. I remembered that I just bought some milk and lean cuisines the day before so I was getting pretty upset. I called Duke Energy to see when they would expect the power to be turned back on, and it said my Thursday May 12 at 5pm! Wow, this was bad!

Mr. Hunt headed over to his brothers house while I finished up at work. By the time I got home, the power was finally back on. I talked to the neighbors and they said it turned back on around 5pm. I'm glad that it came on when it did and it wasn't going to be out for another whole day, that would have been awful.

This really made me realize how bad the people in natural disasters feel, especially now with the people in Alabama. This was NOTHING like what they had to go through, but it was horrible for me. I was sick to my stomach last night I was so scared. I pray that everyone in Alabama stays strong through this and that they know that God has a plan.

Mother's Day

Happy (late) Mothers Day to my wonderful Mom and my soon to be Mother in Law. Don't worry everyone, I did tell them both Happy Mother's Day on the actual day, I just haven't been able to actually post it yet!

As everyone already knows, my mother is wonderful! She really is amazing. The older I get, the more I appreciate everything she does. I want to be just like her when I grow up or when I'm a mom, but when I try to do things like her, its hard. She is a HARD worker. This year she is doing even more since I am getting married. I think this is the best time to become the best mom you can be, and she is filling that more than ever. While calling her today when leaving work, I thought to myself as it rang, "man, I call her alot!" I thought about it and I really do. Anytime something happens with me or something out of the ordinary is going on, I call her. Most of the time I call her as soon as I get out of work, which means I call her at work usually when she is trying to walk out the door too, but she will sit there and talk!

Every time she comes to Mr. Hunt and I's house, she starts cleaning, planting, organizing, giving me ideas. Not to mention she has to put up with 5 boys at home. Now that I am out of the house she is the only girl. She has my dad, two brothers, a male cat and a male dog. Wow, she is busy at home. I know those boys don't purposely try to give her a hard time, but naturally they do. Come on, they are boys, what do you expect?

This year I sent my mom some new garden gloves and some flower seeds to plant. The last time I was home, I saw her wearing my dads working gloves as garden gloves, they were huge on her. She loves to be out in the garden, so I thought instead of sending flower (expensive), I would send her flower seeds so that she can plant them whenever and where ever she wants.

My other Momma, or soon to be Mother in Law is great too! Any woman is great to have raised the man I'm going to marry. God Bless her though, I know Mr. Hunt gave her a hard time growing up. Again, you know how boys are. Here is what I notice about "other momma" the most. She remembers everything! Now, this could have been a bad thing when they were growing up, but it is also a really good thing too. I remember one of the first times I was over at their house. I had been over there maybe once or twice before. While getting ready for dinner, she let me know that they had bought some coke for me. If you didn't know, their whole family drinks Diet Coke so they never had Coke in the house. She remembered that I didn't like Diet Coke, and that I liked Coke and bought some for me. She has remembered alot of other things, like the Reece eggs that I love for Easter, and that I just like anything chocolate. She remembers everything, and I like it!

So Happy Mothers day to you two! You know that I love you very much! Thank you for everything that you do. I could go on and on about how grateful Mr. Hunt and I are, but it would probably bore the other readers. Hope you had great days!

Tracking my Ancestors

I have always been curious as to where my family is from and what heritage I am. I never really found out. Everyone would always tell me that I was probably Irish since my whole family has blonde hair and blue eyes, but that really doesn't mean much.
Well I found out that ancestry.com is having a free 14 day trial, so I decided to do it. I am going to try to find out where I'm from for real this time. I haven't got very far yet. I think its a little harder since Taylor and Adams are pretty common names. I did find out though that my great great grandfather was born and lived in York country, which is the county right next to Mr. Hunt and I. This is crazy because my mom is from Maryland and my dad is from Ohio. I was shocked when I saw that.
What you do is type in your information and all the information that you know about your parents and grandparents and as far as you know. Their birthdays, their maiden names, when they got married, etc.
Its fun to find out things like how many children each grandparent had. Back then, parents had a ton of children.
Ill let you know how far I get. Its only 14 days and 7 are gone, I may pay for one more month depending on how far I get. I think it would be cool to share with my family.
By the way, I forgot about the day when it went by, but this past April 23 was the one year anniversary of Mr. Hunt and I moving into our first ever house! Happy Anniversary to us!! We love our house. Its crazy to think we have been living here for a year already. We still have alot to do around here, but it certainly feels like home.

Cinco de Mayo and my little flower girls!

As most of you know, Mexican food is one of my favorites in the world. I try to (or want to) eat it at least once a week. I literally get cravings for it. So, with that said, its pretty obvious to know that I love Cinco de Mayo. An excuse to go eat Mexican food!
This Cinco de Mayo, Mr. Hunt and I met up with Chris Works (a guy I used to work with) and his two daughters. His two daughters are my little flower girls for the wedding. Taylor is the one on the left, and Chandler is on the right.
While working with Chris, he always talked about and I saw many pictures of his "girls." Mr. Hunt and I finally met them about a year ago while going out to dinner. They were pretty shy at first, but they warmed up to us. Throughout all last summer, they came to our pool and we get together all the time. We always invite them when we are doing something fun that we think they would like too.
When I asked them to be my flower girls they screamed they were so excited! We went shopping for their dresses already and they are so excited.
Taylor: "when is the wedding"
Me: "September"
Taylor: "awww that is too far away, can it be this weekend"
Me: "haha noooo"
Taylor: "but why" (I think all kids say but why)
Me: "Because we already planned for it to be in September and that's when everyone else is ready to come."
Taylor: "well it better come fast."

I love them! Mr. Hunt loves them! They are perfect for our flower girls! I cant wait.

Oh, about the Mexican food! It was really good! We ate a little bit more chips and queso than normal because the service was a little slow. What do you expect on Cinco de Mayo? It was a school day so by the time we were done, the girls were falling asleep at the table.
What am I doing right now? I'm eating spaghetti and watching NASCAR with Mr. Hunt! What are you doing?

One Less Thing to Worry About

I broke down and got a maid. I didn't know how happy I would be with the decision until I came home the day that she cleaned. It was magical!
I guess I never really admitted to myself that I might be a clean freak. I never feel like I can relax good enough until everything around me is clean. I was that person that couldn't study for a huge test in school unless the whole room was cleaned first. My mind seems to wonder and I start making to do lists in my head.
Lets all face it, there is ALWAYS something that needs to be cleaned, so I was never realxed. I would try my hardest to clean the house when I could, but it was never good enough. I would finish the whole downstairs and either run out of energy or run out of time to do the upstairs, or vise versa.
I have always thought about getting a maid, but in the back of my head I felt like that was the lazy way out and it would probably be too expensive.
Well let me just tell you how it is all worth it. She is very inexpensive and she is only coming once a month for now. I don't mind vacuuming the other weeks, and cleaning the kitchen and other things that get used the most, but everything else stays pretty much clean until the next time she has to come. She cleaned places I didn't even know I had. I felt like for once I could sit on the couch and not have to worry about cleaning anything. It was nice.
So, my maid will stay employed for awhile. I'm thankful for her. She takes alot of stress off me and she probably doesn't even know it.
If you are feeling the same way I am, I suggest a maid.