Happy Friday

TGIF! I can not say that enough right now! I have an exciting weekend planned - tonight we are celebrating my dads birthday, tomorrow we are celebrating Zoeys birthday and Sunday we celebrating my cousin, Lesleys, birthday! Plus I have some other stuff scheduled as well. I promise to take lots of pictures of the weekend and get them on here next week!

I also just wanted to take a minute and say THANK YOU to all of the men and women currently serving our country, my thoughts and prayers are always with you - but I will be sending some extra prayers this weekend. To the soldiers who have served in the past so that I may live a free life - THANK YOU - you are all heros and I could not thank you enough.   

Please don't forget the real reason for Memorial Day!

Ok now let me end with this Friday fun:

 Yes, her shirt says "Im your upgrade" - umm ok I have so many things to say right now but all I can focus on are her blue jean looking bikini bottoms.

Is this a trick picture???

Ok I know you have to be laughing. Im not a hater at all, as I am a bigger girl myself, but this is HYSTERICAL. There are so many things wrong with this picture...including her shoes.

X0

{s}

Summer and Birthdays

Alexx and I had the kids this weekend, and it was Chases 10th birthday! We let him choose dinner for Friday night and then Saturday him and Alexx spent some time alone while Zoey and I baked him a cake and decorated the house for his little birthday party! Unfortunately, the kids live with their mother so it was hard to have a actual party for him when he doesnt know many kids his age around here, but thankfully we were able to have two of his friends come (Nicolas and Mercedes). We cooked out! Yes, it was so nice to be able to cook out without fear of the bees! Then Chase played some basketball with the big guys and then the kids ended with a huge water fight. Me, Chelsea and Christina stayed sitting on the driveway and threatened any kid that came within 10 feet of us with a water gun! ha

 

I love the pictures below - it just reminds me of summer and how carefree kids are during the summer ;)

 

Ha! Could Zoeys smile get any bigger?!?

 

You know I had to include Gizzy Gizmo!

 

Happy Birthday Chase!

x0

Steph

it's the small things..

Last night me and Lesley (my cousin) went to Mawmaws house for her famous enchiladas. I'm telling you people these things are delicious and are a staple in my family. She has been making these things for decades and they always taste better and better.

It is such a comfort food for me - its funny how there are certain things that just bring a instant comfort. Takes me back to my child hood. I was thinking alot about that this morning - about some of the things that are my grandmas "comforts" - I thought it would be fun to list some of them and also hear what some of yours are!

MawMaw (my moms mother)
* Her famous enchiladas
* When the sun is setting - sounds weird but, I have so many memories of things we did at this time of day (swim, prepare dinner, sit on the porch and talk, etc..)
* The lake - spending time at the lake house and fishing has always been a part of my life thanks to them ;)
* Watching I Love Lucy - we use to watch this together every night that I was there - while eating Blue Bell Ice Cream
* Blue Bell Ice Cream - do not even think about bringing another brand into her house - Blue Bell is the ONLY way to go - and i have to agree haha


Nana (my dads mother)
* She makes to die for deviled eggs and peanut butter balls - they will make any bad day instantly better
* The Weather Channel on cable - ok let me explain - growing up this was ALWAYS on at Nana and PawPaws house (that or a football game) - I always remember waking up to hearing the Weather Channel on the news and the smell on homemade pancakes cooking.
* Clean Sheets - Nanas guest room sheets always felt so crisp and clean - i loved it!
* The smell of the air from a window unit - I think this comes from when I was little they had this window unit in the living room and I loved standing in front of it until I was so cold I could hardly stand it - that and me my cousin, Amy, would stand it from of it with our tongues out and would get our tongues as dry as possible (we were weird children)
* Zest bar soap. It must be zest and it must be the bar not the liquid body wash. end of story.

I could go on and on with these lists - more on my grandmas and at least one for just about every close friend or family member. I love these little reminders. My great grandma (we called her GG) passed away when I was 16, as I get older I realize just how strong and independent she was - I draw strength from that and hope that I have a little bit of her strength passed down to me. She loved Red Birds, they are not a common bird that you see all the time, but when I do I instantly smile and my mind is flooded with memories of her. It really is the small things that bring some of the greatest peace and happiness.

What is your comfort?

x0
Steph

I am FREE...well almost...

The day finally came - we must get rid of the bees! Don't get me wrong, its not like we liked them or wanted them around, but trying to find someone to get these bees was a TASK! I had more than one bee keeper/exterminator take one look at my back yard and say "I'm going to pass." And lets not even talk about all the phone calls I made to exterminators only to be told "It is against the law to kill honey bees, so we will have no part in it." REALLY? I bet you would have a part in it if these things had been a horrible nuisance in your life for over 2 years - yes people - 2 YEARS! The first year they really weren't bad - that's why I didn't get them taken care of then because I could still mow my back yard and grill out, etc... But this year was horrible those things ruled my back yard - I couldn't grill, I couldn't mow, I couldn't sit out back and enjoy my fire pit! Enough was enough! In one final last attempt Alexx decided to play bee man - now this was about 11pm on a Saturday night. Mike and Alexx made a trip to Walmart and basically bought everything they could find that may cause harm to the bees! So here is a picture of Alexx right before he went to war - ok some people may find this picture offensive  - the bee suit aka painters outfit was way to small but this was the only size they had! hahaha Prepare yourself....

 

Doesn't he remind you of the oompa loompa from Willie Wonka when they are in the TV area??? hahah (forgive me Alexx). Poor guy he went out there and risked his life - we thought for sure we had killed them off- we woke up the next morning to the usual GIANT swarm of bees. By that afternoon I had someone over to give a quote - over $1,000 dollars! UGH And that was just to take the bees - that doesn't include repairing my house afterwards. But then the heavens opened and  light shined down and the angels sang - there was CRAIGSLIST! After several calls I found a man who was a FRACTION of the cost! I booked him for Tuesday morning - from Sunday night til Tuesday morning I prayed for 2 things 1.Please don't let him go running when he sees these beasts and 2. Please don't let me get what I paid for ha....

The bee man was great - so nice and it normally only takes him about 3 hours to do a extraction - he was at my house for over 8 hours! And he didn't charge us any extra! (Don't worry we gave him a good tip) All the neighbors were out watching from their yards, windows and using binoculars...ok I'm exaggerating about the binoculars part but I felt like they were all watching and calling each other and saying "those stupid neighbors are FINALLY doing something about the bees!" 

He is getting started here - see where the siding is gone? Well there was honey comb all behind that board.

He estimated there was roughly 30,000 - 35,000 honey bees living in my back yard! You could of knocked me over with a leaf when I heard that! 

This was the main area they were in - its a space between the first and second floor. He said they were over a foot deep!

 

Here is not even HALF of the honey comb he pulled out - CRAZY! So thankfully they are gone - there are still a few bees swarming, but he said they should be gone within 48 hours - so lets keep our fingers crossed. Now the backside of my house has honey on the walls and windows - and all over my patio. Alexx and I will be busy power washing and cleaning on Saturday! So if anyone needs bee removal contact me - I have a GREAT AFFORDABLE Bee Man! (And no I wont send you Alexx!)

x0

Steph