Five Years of Love and we Biltmore!

Hee Hee.

Yes, for our five-year anniversary celebration, John and I visited North Carolina - his old stamping ground. We first visited the Biltmore Estate, then made a quick jaunt to Charlotte for a one-day adventure and concluded our trip with a couple-night stay Mooresville.

The Biltmore Estate was fabulous! John had not been there in years and it was the first time I had visited. We took the audio tour (which was recommended by some friends) and we're glad we did! It was very informative without being too expensive. We also toured the winery and participated in a wine tasting. Fun!

While outside the winery gift shop, the bottom of our wine-holder box busted open and we broke the three bottles that had been purchased. My heart sank - the wine was not cheap. Fortunately, a friendly staffer saw the mishap and replaced our wine case, broken bottles and even threw in a new bottle opener and cork! The same staffer also directed us to a place to dine that evening in downtown Asheville for our anniversary dinner!

So, we spent the rest of the day in downtown Asheville, a unique locale with plenty of independently-owned stores and restaurants. We supped at the Lobster Trap. I had trout with broccoli and a very tasty, but very unique edamame and corn succotash. John had crab cakes. We enjoyed our anniversay dinner!

In Charlotte, John showed me the home he lived in from the time he was 3 until he was 7. We also stopped by to see some old neighbors and the church he used to attend. We finished our afternoon shopping at the massive Concord Mills shopping mall. While there, some folks recommended trying Troutman's BBQ (where all the locals get BBQ) in Concord. It certainly wasn't fancy, but it was DELICIOUS!!!! I'd link the restaurant to a site, but they don't have one!

The rest of our trip was spent in Mooresville. John lived in NASCAR's "Race City" for 8 years. While there, we saw some family friends, the Bakers. They were super-nice folks who invited us into their home to share an afternoon.

Here's a pic of the Hans and Linda with John:


In addition to our visit with the Bakers, John showed me all around town: his old schools, old home, old church, old library, old bike paths, old friends' homes and so on. We also marveled at all the development in the area. John says their are tons of new stores and dining options. There is also a very, very ritzy part of town on the border of Lake Norman (a very, very large and very, very pretty man-made lake.) It was the greatest number of up-scale homes I'd ever seen in one place!!! See the website by clicking here.

Even though we had a great time in Mooresville, we did encounter one unfortunate event. We were rear-ended by a van while sitting at a stop light. It turns out the turn arrow had turned green and the lady behind us saw the cars in the turn lane going, so she decided to go too, without paying ANY attention to the people in front of her!!! It startled us, but we were all OK!! Our bumpers rubbed slightly, but other than that, the vehicles were OK too! Thank God we were all fine!

John and I had a great time together. (We left Rebecca with my parents - fun for her and them, right?) She had a blast and I think my parnents did too!!! Although, it was great to see her when we returned!!!

Unfortunately, we did not get hardly any pictures, due to the Biltmore's no-photo policy and inclement weather the entire stay - but we have memories, right???

We also got great deals on hotels. TIP: be willing to wheel and deal and DO YOUR RESEARCH! It is WELL worth it!

We also watched the new to DVD movie Fireproof in our room one evening. I highly recommend it for any couple. It was wonderful!!!!

We pray God will continue to do work in our marriage so that individually, and as a family, we may glorify Him. We thank Him for our five great years together!

21 Months

Here are a few new pictures of Rebecca. She keeps our lives busy and full of joy.

Our little comedienne

Rebecca, who turned 21 months old yesterday, has become quite an entertainer. She enjoys singing songs, making silly faces and demanding our attention as she "performs."
She likes for us to watch her slide down the slide.
"Up here mommy, up here daddy!" she yells to capture our attention as she stands on the platform to slide down the slide.
She also has a new favorite penguin hat she likes to model for us. She'll put it on and say "cute." Sunglasses are another favorite. She says she's "cool" when she wears them.
Often, Rebecca will put on her hat, her little "purse" and plastic bracelet and tell me "bye, bye."
"Where are you going?" I ask.
I get told "shopping," "grocery store," "church" or "playgroup."
Yeah, that about sums it up - that's all the places we go. :-)
It really neat to see her imagination forming. She changes Hoppy's diaper and her baby dolls diapers. She totes her animals along in her wagon or on her bus. I see and hear her talking to her imaginary kitty. It's really cool!
Aside from a few mumbling spots and sometimes shortening the tune, Rebecca can sing her "ABCs." She also enjoys singing "Daisy, Daisy" "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," "Jesus Loves Me," "Twinkle, Twinkle" and any "Baby Signing Time" song.
She comprehends just about anything we say to her and we are thankful to be able to reason with her when it comes to behavior.
For instance, she previously had a problem with getting out of her seat in restarurants. I had to hold her down and of course, we wrestled with her. We'd end up getting angry and she would get frustrated and wiggle, whine and complain even more.
One evening, while dining out, I explained to her that people sit down when they eat and I asked her to look at all the people sitting around us. Since then, she'll say "people sit down" when we eat out and she complies with our request to be seated.
She gets better and better with her signing all the time and sometimes uses signs to accompany her conversation.
Minus some tantrums and some (too frequent) whining, Rebecca is really a sweet little girl.
The other day, a shelf with pots and pans fell down around me while I was putting dishes away. Rebecca runs over.
"Happened mommy?" she asked.
I tell her the shelf broke and the pots fell down.
"Mommy OK?" she asks, patting my back.
"Yes, " I say.
"Good girl, mommy," she says, continuing to pat my back.
I was resting on the couch the other day and she gave me her pillow. Then she brought me stuffed animals.
"Sleep tight mommy," she said.
She also says "excuse me," "bless you," and "please and thank you" frequently. She rarely needs prompting.
Her sweet gestures melt my heart.
Rebecca is recovering from strep throat. She had some raging fevers and would not eat or drink. John and I ended up taking a syringe and forcing juice down her mouth. She screamed and cried - but it was the only way we could get here to drink. She is SO MUCH better now and will finish antibiotics in three days. She had strep throat last year as well. I have no clue where she picks it up - but it is NO fun!
Enjoy the new pictures of our growing toddler:

Heart & Sole

To condition our hearts, we got a Sole E55 (elliptical machine) for Christmas.
I wrote about it in our Christmas blog. Its quality equates to ones found in many popular gyms - it reminds me of my days working out at U of L! I've been thoroughly enjoying it!
Here is a picture of the machine:















http://www.soletreadmills.com

Holiday Shenanigans

Dec. 13
7th (I believe) annual ladies' Xmas party in Louisville at my friend Kristin's condo. (She and I alternate having it every year.)
We played games (including a wrapping paper fashion show,) made ornaments, ate great food and all-in-all had a great time! I went to bed later than I had in YEARS!!!
Earlier in the day, I celebrated Christmas with my Maysville friends - Amy, Katie and Mindy. It was a terrific time! Katie and Amy accompanied me to the ladies' party.

Dec. 15
My birthday! John took me out to Tony Roma's and bought me the Fair Tax Book. What a happy girl!

Dec. 18
Dinner at Mom and Dad's with Papaw Billy.

Dec. 19
Hord family Christmas (my mom's side) at my Uncle David and Aunt Janie's home. Fun! Fun! Fun!

Dec. 20
Christmas with my parents, brother and his girlfriend, Jana. We ate homemade donuts we made the night before for breakfast! Delicious! We opened all sorts of gifts!
Later in the day we attended the Howard family Christmas get-together at my great-aunt Mabel's. It was great to see everyone!
Dec. 21
Christmas at home. John and I purchased each other a nice elliptical machine, which we received earlier. We opened stockings and poured on the gifts from Santa to Rebecca. :-) She started to show real excitement this year and she understood that Christmas is Jesus birthday. She even went around wishing everyone "Merry Christmas."

Dec. 23
Departed for MN. Once we arrived, the family drove to St. Cloud to celebrate with Grandma Stolpman and the Schrom family. We attended a Christmas Eve service there. Rebecca developed a nasty cold, but was happy to see family and open all sorts of gifts!
Dec. 25
We drove back to Hastings, MN to celebrate Christmas later in the evening with the Carlson clan. Rebecca was in a foul mood due to lack of sleep and the cold. She got a lot of neat stuff though! She enjoyed all the gifts more, later....
Dec. 29
John and Jean's anniversary. We all ate at this super-yummy restaurant in Hampton - I believe.
Dec. 31
John W.'s b-day. We celebrated the New Year at one of Wyatt's friend's homes. He and his wife were very gracious to include us!
Jan.1
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
In between, we ate all sorts of GREAT food, participated in many activities, stopped by the Great Mall (Mall of America) visited with family and had a wonderful time!!!
Jan. 3
Flew to ole KY.

Now, I'm trying to get caught up at home...

Hit-And-Run

On Dec. 10, John, Rebecca and I had a Christmas get-together dinner with some of our friends from Lexmark. We ate at Old Chicago in Hamburg and enjoyed great food and company.

However, on our way home, we were met by some bad company.

We were on the Interstate and within 1-2 miles from our exit. John was driving in the center lane with a car on his right and a semi truck on his left. The semi signaled to get over and John sped up to get out of his way, but the semi driver jerked his rig over and hit the back end of our Saturn (which we just purchased last Jan.) We spun around and for a moment, he pushed us. We spun some more, hit the concrete median divide a couple times and ended up facing the wrong way in the median. The truck drove away.

I thank God for our safety - minus a pretty nasty bruise on my arm, we were all fine. It was a miracle!

Our car, we believe, is totaled. We only had liability on the car since it wasn't worth a whole lot.
Since the police never caught the guy, we are unfortunately out of a vehicle.

We are bummed about the loss of our car, but we are so very thankful we are all still here today! Also, it works out well that I'm at home - John can drive my car!

I guess we'll be car shopping soon....

Anyone know of any good deals on used cars???

Mike Huckabee

On Dec. 2, Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington hosted a Mike Huckabee book signing for his new book, Do the Right Thing.
I believe there was close to 500 people in attendance. So, it was a quick signing and handshake - but very cool nonetheless! I attended the event with my mom, dad and Rebecca.
The book is terrific by the way ;-)