Friday Favorites!

1) Inlaws Visit - Josh's mom and step dad visited us this past weekend. They haven't been here since last September, so it was fun to show them what we've done in the house since then! I didn't realize how much we had changed since then until they pointed it out. 

2) TV - We bought the mount for the TV before we actually bought our TV...which was in February. We FINALLY mounted the TV this past weekend! Now we just have to get rid of the big, bulky TV stand we have now and find something a little smaller. 

3) Hershey Park - We finally visited Hershey Park! I've wanted to visit since we moved up here. We got really cheap tickets for family day through work. YAY! The new roller coaster was down for the rest of the season, but there were lots more to ride and we still had a great time!

4) State! - We redeemed ourselves after that horrible game against Miami. I'll take a game against #3 FSU any day! The end was amazing! Hopefully we'll rest up this weekend and be all ready for MD next Saturday.

5) Camp BowWow - I briefly mentioned that Bailey has Kennel Cough. We have to wait 2 weeks after she hasn't shown any symptoms for 24 hours to take her back to camp. This week, we got a get well note from Camp BowWow, along with a voucher for a free bath during her next visit. Bailey hates baths, so I hate giving them to her, so I'm really excited about that! She is still coughing, but she's MUCH better than she was. She's sleeping through the night without medicine now :-).

6) Nikki & Bryan's Wedding - Last Friday, we went to see our friends Nikki & Bryan FINALLY tie the knot! Nikki is the first friend I made when we moved up here. She and Bryan have been trying to have a baby since I met her. They had a huge announcement at the wedding. They're pregnant...with TRIPLETS!!!

Next week is a short week, so my next "Friday" is only a few days away!!! 

Friday Favorites!

Things have been crazy busy, so of course this week flew by!!! I can't believe it's Friday again. 

1) VA - Our trip to VA over the weekend was beyond amazing. We got some much needed "us" time and it was nice to get away from the house and to-do list for a bit. 

2) Camp BowWow - Bailey was at Camp BowWow while we were in VA. I love that she gets to play as much as she wants while we're away. She was exhausted when we got home!

3) Neighbor - We have a neighbor that we don't care for. He's been talking about moving since we met him before we closed on our house. He's been putting off a repair that has been causing us issues. When we got home from our trip, we noticed that he had fixed that issue finally! YAY! He's also making some other repairs, so maybe he's finally working toward selling the house and moving?

4) Riding Boots - I've wanted riding boots for quite a while. Unfortunately, the ones I want are WAY out of my price range right now. I found some that I liked for like...a tenth of the price. YAY! I haven't had the chance to wear them yet, but I will definitely be wearing them in our family pictures that are coming up in a couple weeks!

5) Straightening iron - I also found a good deal on a straightening iron I've had my eye on. I decided to wipe out my allowance and buy it. So far, I love it! We've had some very humid days this week and my hair is doing much better than it did with my old ones. Used to, on a morning like this morning (94% humidity), after a walk with Bailey, my hair would look like I just woke up and I would have to come in and re-straighten it. Not any more! 

6) Fall - It's officially Fall!!! This week has not been my kind of Fall weather. It hasn't been hot, but it has been humid. I had enough of the humidity this summer and I guess I was spoiled by the amazing weather last week. I know the good weather is just around the corner though.

7) Good Friends - We have a lot going on this weekend and we were going to board Bailey tonight. This evening after work, we have a wedding. Josh's mom and step dad will be getting in tonight as well. We will be leaving tomorrow morning to go to Hershey Park with them. Well, I noticed that Bailey had a hacking cough Wednesday evening. My baby has Kennel Cough :-(. So, now, we can't board her. I was freaking out at first because I don't want her at home by herself that long. I arranged to come home early enough to spend some time with her today before we leave for the wedding. A friend will be coming by tomorrow to walk Bailey and spend a little time with her. I feel SO much better now and I don't know what I would do without Jen!

Shenandoah for the Weekend!

I may or may not have mentioned the vacation we purchased from Bass Pro Shops several months back. We were shopping for some fishing stuff one day and we were approached by their travel agents about a weekend getaway. We said no at first, but once we talked about it for a few minutes and they offered us enough gift cards to cover the cost of the room, we decided there wasn't any harm. It's to preview a timeshare, so you have to attend a 2 hour presentation. Of course that part wasn't exciting, but we figured if our room was free, it was worth it. They had lots of locations including Charleston, Aruba and several more all over the country. We chose Shenandoah Valley since it was the closest and we had recently heard lots of good things about it from a co-worker. We decided it would be a nice weekend getaway and we couldn't have picked a better time for it!

Friday morning, we got to sleep in a little bit (until 7:30, that's later than I sleep on some weekends!). We fed Bailey, played with her a bit, picked up around the house (I hate coming home to clutter) and took Bailey to camp. She always gets SO excited to go and Friday was no exception. We dropped her off and got on the road. We didn't have a specific time to get there, which is nice since we're usually rushing. We stopped at Chick-fil-A for lunch. YUM! I usually read a lot during our trips, but I decided not to this time. We left our computers home too, and we ended up keeping our phones off once we got to our place. I'm SO glad we did. It was really nice to have no interruptions and for it to be just us. We also didn't plan ahead, which is different for us. We just decided to go and play it by ear. 

Our room wasn't ready when we arrived, so we went out to pet the horses for a bit and then decided to visit a winery. We went to Horton Vineyards. The place was absolutely beautiful and they had over 40 wines to choose from! We each got to taste 12 for no charge. We chose our favorites and decided to buy 3 bottles. One to have on our trip and 2 to have on hand at home. We chose a white for the trip and 2 reds to take home. They had some special wines they had made for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. We chose one of those. When we were on our way back to our room, we saw a sign for another vineyard and decided to go there too. This one was Barboursville Vineyards. This one wasn't as pretty outside, but the inside was amazing. This one was only $5 a person and we got to try all their wines and keep the glasses. During the tasting, we met an older couple and they were SO nice. He was retired Navy and he's a pilot for Delta now. He just got back from a long week of traveling, so his wife was treating him to a winery tour. They were so sweet! 

 Horton. So pretty!

On the way out of the vineyard, we noticed a house the couple at the winery was telling us about. It was designed by Thomas Jefferson for governor Barbour. The family decorated the Christmas tree with real candles, and the house burned down on Christmas Eve. Such a sad story. What was left of the house is still standing. It was HUGE. Even though it's such a sad story, it was really interesting to look at. There were huge trees surrounding the house and they had an odd looking fruit on them. We couldn't figure out what they were supposed to be. We ran into the couple again and they told us they were walnuts. Of course, Josh had to find out for sure. He broke it open and sure enough, there was a walnut inside. We also found out that walnut stains. Josh walked around with his hands looking like this for the rest of the trip. 

 Walnuts.

His hands look like they were dipped in iodine.

We had a great time at both of the vineyards. After visiting those, I now think most of the MD vineyards we have visited are a bit on the stingy side. Haha. 

We decided to drive back toward town and find something to eat. We saw gas for only $3.50 a gallon, so we decided to stop and fill up. Of course, Josh looked for a local beer while we were at the gas station. He got Star Hill's Pumpkin Porter. We had both noticed restaurants we were interested in while we were driving through town on the way to the vineyards. We stopped at Josh's first. I don't remember the name of it, but once we got up closer to it, we realized it was really fancy looking and a bit pricey. We were not dressed to eat there and neither of us was in the mood for a fancy meal anyway. The place I noticed was The Barbeque Exchange . That was much more like it! It was probably the closest thing I've had to real BBQ outside NC. Josh got the BBQ Sandwich with hushpuppies and I got the BBQ tray with a pumpkin muffin, mac n cheese and collards. The meat came plain and you got to choose the sauce you wanted on it. They had several, but I only paid attention to one...Craig's Carolina. It was the real Eastern NC vinegar based stuff, not that tomato based stuff. The pork is pulled and I prefer it to be finer chopped, but it was pulled more finely than I've had at most places. We both had more than enough to eat, so we went to go check in to our room. 

Once we got settled, we decided to check out the bar for Happy Hour. We each had a Star Hill beer. I had The Love (a delicious wheat beer) and Josh had Northern Lights (an IPA that even Josh thought was over-hopped). After having a beer at the bar, we decided to go back to the room and watch a movie. We were both really tired, so we ended up going to sleep pretty early.

We got up early the next morning and went to breakfast. It was a little chilly outside, but we ate on the patio anyway. The view was amazing. The food was really good! We took our time eating then went to the stables to see the horses and other animals. Of course, I loved this part. We still had some time to kill before our tour, so we walked a short trail. When we got back to the general store, where some of the pools are, we found a giant chess set. It looked pretty cool, but we didn't play. We went to the preview center for our tour. Josh was signing the paperwork when he noticed a bold statement that said MD residents were not obligated to take the tour. We thought we might not get our gift cards if we opted out of the tour, so Josh asked. Nope, we didn't have to take the tour AND we still got our gift cards! Heck yes, we saved 2+ hours of our lives! We were so excited, because our tour was supposed to start at 11:45. We thought we would only be able to catch the end of the game, but now we could make the whole thing! In our excitement, we walked out of the preview center with Josh's Oakley's sitting on the coffee table. He realized it not even 5 minutes down the road, and we turned around to go get them immediately. We looked where we both knew he left them and they were gone! We thought maybe someone turned them in. Nope, someone kept them for themselves. We went back 3 times over the course of the trip and no one ever turned them in. Of course, Josh was really upset. Now I'm on a mission to find another good deal. 

 Part of the view from breakfast. The lake. 

More views from breakfast. The stables.

 This little guy just wouldn't leave us alone. I kept trying to swat him away from my juice but he kept coming back. Finally, I let him fall to his death and asked for a new juice.

 Chicken and biscuits with smoked gouda grits. So yum and the most tender fried chicken I've ever had.

Josh got steak and eggs. His steak was way overcooked, but still very tender.

 A fuzzy chicken. Josh calls it a llama.

 Peacock!

 Another fuzzy chicken with her chicks. That peacock kept bullying and pecking at the little chicks!

Giant chess!

A lifesized example.

We found a local bar that had just opened 3 weeks ago. It was only noon on Saturday, so we had the place to ourselves. We ended up being the only people there the entire game, so we had 4 TVs just for us. We stayed and watched the whole, disappointing game. This was actually probably my least favorite part of the trip. There's no reason we couldn't have won that game, but I won't go into that. Moving on...

After the game, we went back to the resort. We played a round of mini golf. I started off strong, but of course, Josh came back and beat me. Next, we went fishing for a while. Josh forgot to bring fishing poles, but you can rent them for $5 each and you get to keep them for 24 hours. They had several types of boats. We chose to get a John Boat. There was no charge since we decided to row out. We stayed out for about an hour and a half. Josh caught 1 fish, and I just got my line tangled in the tree a couple times. No luck here. We each enjoyed a Pumpkin Porter while we were out on the boat. Even though I didn't catch anything, I still had a good time relaxing. We got cleaned up and went to dinner afterward. I got a french dip sandwich and Josh got a burger. It was very good. We lounged and watched football for the rest of the night. We tried to stay up for the FSU game, but we both fell asleep before it went off. We fell asleep relatively early and "slept" for about 10 hours. Neither of us slept well Saturday night. We both tossed and turned and woke up with sore backs. Needless to say, we were looking forward to having our bed back Sunday night. 

 He did all the rowing :-)

 My bobber stuck in the trees.

 The fish Josh caught.

 <3 p="p">

Now, this is what I call relaxing.

We slept in until 8:00 on Sunday morning. We got up and got ready, packed our things, then went to breakfast. We decided to eat in since it was a little cooler than Saturday morning and Josh didn't bring anything with long sleeves. After eating, we loaded up the car and went back on the lake. I wanted to go kayaking and Josh wanted to fish. We got a kayak and fished off of it :-). Neither of us caught anything, but we had a good time rowing around the lake. We both got a bit wet and needed to change before we left. We both had leftovers from dinner the night before, so we warmed it up and decided we would have that for lunch whenever we got hungry. We had an easy ride home until we got to DC. We did hit a bit of traffic, but it wasn't horrible. Of course, I took a nap. We were back home by 2 and we couldn't pick Bailey up until 4:30, so we caught up on laundry, did a couple chores around the house and did a little work in the garage. We really want to be able to park in there this Winter! 

On the lake Sunday morning. So pretty!

Finally, it was time to pick up Bailey! It was really nice to have some just us time, but I always miss her when we're away. Of course, she was super excited to see us too. We decided to go to Bass Pro shops since we've been wanting to get Bailey out more. She's never been, so we thought it would be nice if her first time was when she was exhausted. She's usually really funny about giant animal types of things, but she didn't bark at anything. She was definitely a little nervous, but she did really well! We'll have to start taking her more. 

 Taking it all in.

 It wasn't easy to get her to sit for this one. She wanted to sniff everything.

After a long weekend at camp.

We had such an amazing weekend in VA. It was simple and low key, but that's just what we needed. It's so beautiful in the foothills in the mountains, especially with the leaves just starting to change. This weekend was a great reminder of all the things God has blessed us with. We live in such a beautiful world!

Friday Favorites!!!

I know it's Monday, but I have a good excuse for not posting this on Friday. I was away relaxing with the hubby! I do kind of wish I would have posted this Friday morning before we left, because I don't remember what all happened last week now!

1) Dinner Date - Last Friday we had some friends over for dinner. I made Chicken Parmesan Bake and it was really good (although, I'll probably use a different flavored pasta sauce next time). We haven't had anyone over for dinner in months, so it was a lot of fun. 

2) Short Week - We took Friday off to start off our long weekend in VA. More on that later.

3) Brew Day - We went over to Dave's for brewing last Saturday. We really enjoy going over to brew because we always learn something new and we get to try all kinds of new beers. This time, the guys were brewing a Pumpkin Porter, a Pumking clone and a Black Cannon clone. So far we have only been over while the guys brew, but we were invited to brew our own batch next time. I'll be excited to brew our first all grain batch and to have a little guidance at the same time!

4) Fall Picnic - Last Sunday, we had our family picnic for work. I had to work part of the event, but that's OK, at least I got paid :-). It's fun to be able to hang out with people from work and not have to do anything work related. We had lots of fun door prizes and I actually won something! I had to choose between the last 2, and I chose a $25 Subway gift card. 

5) The Martins: flight booked - The Martins booked their flights to come visit! They'll be here in just over 2 weeks. I can't believe it's so close! We're SO looking forward to a vacation and spending time with them.

6) The Crinket - I briefly mentioned this in last week's post, but Bailey hadn't had a chance to play with it yet at that point. She is in love with the thing. It's basically just a tube that you put a water bottle in. She loves playing with water bottles anyway, so this just makes it more fun for her. She will throw it down the stairs and chase it. She has figured out how to crush a bottle and get it out so she can take off the cap and ring. Silly pup.

Friday Favorites!!!

Happy Friday y'all!!! 

1) Ikea - I love Ikea. I love that we have one 25 minutes away (This is one thing I won't like about moving back to NC at some point. Can IKEA please come to Raleigh?). I love that it's so cheap and I love that they package things so that I can fit so much stuff in our tiny little car. I also love their $1 cinnamon rolls. YUM! We went to pick up some bookshelves and some other things. Josh was a bit worried about fitting the biggest bookshelf in the car because we bought an identical one when we had the Taurus and we had a really hard time getting it to fit in through the trunk and back seats. The Taurus is quite a bit bigger than the Civic. I was optimistic and I told him we would find a way. Well, even I was a little surprised that I was right. It went right in with no problem. The Civic may be smaller, but the trunk is made differently, so it was actually a lot easier to slide the box down into the trunk and through the back seat opening.

2) Our car - Refer back to #1. I love that it's smaller, but we can still fit things that we could fit in the much larger, harder to park, gas hog Taurus.

3) Wednesday off - I love short weeks! I took Wednesday off because we had contractors at the house fixing our bay window. We had some rotted wood and a couple other issues that we thought were leading to a bit of leakage in our bumpout on the front of our house. Thompson Creek came out to replace all the rotted wood, fix those issues and cap everything. Now it looks SO much better AND it's maintenance free. It has a double lifetime warranty, so it's covered during our time in this house AND the next owners. Hopefully having this done will increase the value of our home. We're not 100% sure this will entirely fix the leaking issue we have when it rains sideways, but it was something that really needed to get done anyway.

4) Maid Brigade - On my Wednesday off, I had 9843098 things on my to do-list:

- Clean the house 

- Start organizing the garage (we REALLY want to be able to park the car in there this winter) 

- Look in our attic and see how we can utilize it for storage 

- Finish putting together IKEA furniture

- Wash new towels and switch out the old ones

- Organize craft room (you could only see a few spots on the floor)

- Catch up on laundry

- Hang curtains in the guest room and our bedroom

- Hang up some pictures (our walls have been bare WAY too long)

- Break out the Fall candles and decor

- Cook dinner

I realized when I made this list that there was no way I was going to finish it. I decided to bring some help in and I'm SO glad I did. The ladies did a fantastic job and I was able to get SO much done while they were here. I just worked in the garage while they were upstairs and organized the craft room while they were downstairs. I kept Bailey on the floor I was on and she napped, sun bathed and people watched. 

5) Bark Box - A couple weeks ago, I saw a Groupon for Bark Box. If you've ever heard of Birch Box, it's the dog version. If not, it's basically a service that mails you a box of 4-5 items per month. These items could be toys, treats, or a number of other things for your dog. The boxes usually start at $17 a month, but with the deal, I got it for $10 a month. We definitely spend more than that on toys and treats for Bailey, so I decided to give it a shot after researching a little and finding out what had been in past boxes. I was SO excited when Bailey's first box came in. I sat it on the floor for her and let her sniff it and push it around a little. Then I decided she had enough teasing. This month's box included:

- Zukes Z-Bones in Clean Apple Crisp Flavor (She hasn't tried this yet)

- Whole Life Organics Sweet Potato Treats (She's still not sure if she likes these)

- Whole Life Freeze Dried Chicken Treats (of course she loves these)

- A Crinkit (She will get this today and I already know she will love it)

- w.a.g. Wash & Go bath wipes (She won't care about this, but I'm keeping it in the car for after the dog park)

6) Master Bedroom - We've had the paint to paint our bedroom for quite some time, but we've been putting it off. Well, it's finally done and I love it! I'll try to post pictures within the next week.

7) Andre Brown - I don't like the Giants...at all. But Andre had a great game and I love it! Who doesn't enjoy a good Panthers/Cam loss? 

Friday Favorites!

Goodness, is it really Friday again already?!? I'm not complaining :-)

1) Wolfpack Football - We enjoyed watching our first win of the season at home last weekend. I love going to games, but it's also really nice to watch the game from the comfort of my home. I made Old Bay Hot Wings (YUM!) and crescent rolls stuffed with cream cheese and jalapenos...also very good. 

2) Orioles - I attended my first...and second...Orioles games last weekend. I was not looking forward to Saturday's game. I had to go to it for a work event. I wanted to stay home and watch Wake win with Josh. I actually ended up having a great time and the Os won. Josh went to the game this time. We went with another couple and we had a great time. The Yankees won that game though :-/. We've been wanting to go to an Os game since we moved up here. It's really nice that we got to go to both games for free, and that the Os are actually doing well! 

3) This little lady...I love her so much. She's been doing so well lately. She's met 2 new dogs this week and she did really well with both of them. One was a Pomeranian. She was really calm with him (not very Bailey-like) while he put his little paws on her shoulders and stiffed her face. The next one was Apollo, a little Beagle mix. He was adorable. He's only 6 months old and he hasn't been to any parks or anything yet, so he's still a little nervous. He finally warmed up to here a little and she did really well with him. 

 She's serious about chasing her stick...

it's pretty much her favorite toy. 

4) New Faucet - I love it! 

5) My amazing hubby - We've been on a slightly different schedule for the past couple weeks. Josh decided to start getting up even earlier (around 4:45) so he could work on things before work. He usually isn't very motivate or productive after work, so he wanted to try this out. Of course, this means going to bed even earlier. He stayed up late one night installing the new faucet for me. I know that's not how he wanted to spend his evening after work, but he still did it for me...and removing the old faucet was a pain and extremely time consuming since part of the bolts were corroded. Once he got the old one loosened, it was really easy to install the new one. 

6) Dinner - Josh had a team dinner at Heavy Seas Alehouse last night. It was a pretty pricey dinner, but the food was amazing and we had a really great time. This is our second time going there and we really like it. It has a nice rustic feel to it.

7) Weather - I can tell Fall is just around the corner! We've had cool, mornings and the days have been beautiful this past week. The weather this weekend is supposed to be in the mid 70s and sunny...absolutely perfect! 

A Little Bit of NC

After we got back from Atlanta, we stayed in NC to visit our family for a bit. I never take enough pictures when we visit, so I don't have many at all. I just get so lost in catching up with people I don't even think about it. 

Anyway, we left Atlanta around 10:30 or so and got to my mother in law's house around 4:00 Saturday afternoon. I couldn't wait to go pick up Bailey, but we needed to drop off the mini fridge the Martins got Josh for his birthday to make room for her. We caught up with Josh's mom for a bit and told her all about the game, then we were off to my dad's house. Bailey's younger sister lives with my dad, so she's always excited to go over and play. She had a blast rolling in the dirt with Gia while we were away. My dad is always happy to keep Bailey. He told everybody he was keeping his granddaughter while we were in GA :-). He said she behaved well, but she didn't want to go outside by herself. She would bark to tell my dad she wanted to go out. Then as soon as he would let her out and close the door, she would bark to be let back in. Haha. Silly girl. I surprised her when I walked in at my dad's house. She was sleeping on the couch next to him. She woke up and looked at me when I opened the door. It took a second for her to register who we were because she was still half asleep, but we got a nice welcome "WOOF" and lots of kisses. We caught up with my dad and told him all about the game. We left one of our Pack Pilsners with him to drink during the game. I knew it would be too hoppy for him and he wouldn't like it, but I thought he would appreciate that it was red. Well, I didn't think to remind him to pour it in a glass. My dad isn't used to homebrews and he drank it straight from the bottle :-/. So not only did he not realize it was a red beer, he also drank some of the icky sediment that collects on the bottom of the bottle. Anyway, he didn't like how hoppy it was, but he drank it anyway because Josh and I made it. Haha. 

After we left my dad's house, we went to visit Josh's dad. We decided to wash Bailey at his house so we wouldn't have to worry about her rolling around with dogs and getting dirty while she was still wet. Josh's dad has a little dog, but he's a bit cranky and doesn't care much for Bailey, so we don't have to worry about that happening at his house. She looked SO much whiter after we washed her. She HATES baths with a passion and she knew she was going to get one. She tried to jump off Josh when he picked her up and scratched him pretty bad in the process. She whined the entire time like she always does, but I'm sure she felt better. It took me quite a while to clean all the dirt out of her ears. I'm always amazed at how much dirt finds its way into her ears after she's been playing outdoors for a while. They're like magnets for dirt! After we washed Bailey, we watched a the Clemson v. Auburn game through halftime. 

We left to go back to Josh's mom's so we could watch the second half there. Bailey was completely exhausted from playing at my dad's all weekend. She didn't want to miss out on anything though and she was so excited to see Aaron and Judy, so she wouldn't go to sleep. She was struggling to keep her eyes open. We all ended up going to bed not long after Clemson beat Auburn! We got up really early the next morning for Josh to go fishing with my cousin Bryan. I went to spend the day with my sister. Bailey was still exhausted, and I was pretty tired myself, so the 3 of us cuddled up on the couch to take a quick nap. Once we were all awake, Nikki and I went to Lowe's to pick out our new kitchen faucet. We had to run a couple other errands too, and Bailey ended up being in my sister's apartment by herself for 2 hours with 0 damage! YAY! She's gone that long before, but since she tore the carpet up about 3 months ago, we haven't left her out alone at home. I was kind of worried about her being in a new place all by herself, but she was an angel. It may or may not have had something to do with her being completely exhausted. :-). My sister and I spent the rest of the afternoon just catching up until Josh and Bryan got back to her apartment. Once everybody was back, we decided to play Trouble. It has been a LONG time since I've played that game. We ended up playing 3 games and had a lot of fun! 

 One of her napping at Nikki's house

We went back to Josh's mom's for dinner and to spend a little more time with her. Bailey was still tired. She's used to sleeping the majority of the day, so a couple naps just isn't enough for her. She was really excited to see Aaron and Judy. She loves playing with Aaron because he will let her play rough with him. She gets away with too much with him, but I guess that's what grandparents are for, right? Matt came in with his girlfriend and Bailey was really excited...until she realized there was a new person in the house. She was not OK with that. We put her to bed for a little while then let her back out. She was a little better, but she still wasn't comfortable having someone she didn't know around. 

We made plans to go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast Monday morning. I was so excited because it's my favorite place to go for breakfast. We have a couple of them up here, but they're too far to drive for just a meal, so we always try to go while we're home. As always, it was delicious and I was ready for a nap afterward. Y'all, if you haven't tried their hash brown casserole, you're really missing out! It's amazing. 

We went back to my sister's house for dinner Monday evening. This was the first time I got to see my mom and Natalia since we had been in town. Natalia had to show me her cartwheels and tell me about school. She showed me that the fish Josh and I got her for her Birthday was still alive. We all had dinner and just caught up for a while. The food was delicious and it was really nice to spend time with everyone together. After my parents left we tried to play another game of Trouble. It was a little more challenging to play it with Natalia. Haha. We ended up not finishing the game. You have to love the attention span of a 5 year old. Natalia had to go to school Tuesday morning (I can't believe she's already in Kindergarten!), so I put her to bed early. She laid down with me while we watched the VT v. GT game, then Josh put her in her own bed once she fell asleep. She was very chatty because she didn't want to go to bed yet, but it didn't take long for her to doze off. She is so funny sometimes. I was wearing my NC State class ring and she was looking at the Block S on it. She looked at me with the most serious face and said, "Aunt Kiss, how do you make an NC Steak?" It took me a few minutes to figure it out, but she was asking me how to draw a Block S. She is adorable and hilarious, I hate that I don't get to spend more time with her. 

 Bailey and Aunt Nikki napping during the football game. I love this pic.

Tuesday morning, Bailey was SO excited to see Natalia when she woke up. Natalia isn't a morning person at all, so I thought morning Bailey would be a bit much for her. Luckily, I was wrong. Bailey went in her room to give her good morning kisses and I think she was just as excited as Bailey was. We had french toast and bacon for breakfast then Natalia finished getting ready for school. I walked her down to the car to say our goodbyes. I love/hate our goodbye hugs. Natalia's normal hugs are very quick. When she knows she's not going to see you for a while, she hangs on really tight. So, I love her big hugs, but I hate that I won't get another one for a while.

 This is my foot next to my 5 year old niece's foot. Can you believe that?!? Crazy. 

 We made it on the road a little before 9 Tuesday morning.

 Bailey was either asleep or half asleep for 95% of the trip.

This is the part where she wasn't asleep. She smelled that delicious COOKOUT BBQ. Haha. 

We had a great time visiting our families and catching up. This is the last time we will be going home until Thanksgiving, but both sides of the family are coming to visit in October, so we'll see them before long :-)