Thanksgiving 2015

Since my Mom wasn't able to come back to NC for my Grandmother's 90th birthday, she came for Thanksgiving. Chad and I were able to go to Wilmington for the whole week of Thanksgiving, but my brother was only able to come for a day and a half. We had Thanksgiving at my Grandmother's house and we were able to have an early Thanksgiving with my Dad the day before. Here are pictures from our week at the beach for Thanksgiving:


Early Thanksgiving with my Dad.



Thanksgiving at my Grandmother's house.



Other pictures from our week at the beach.



We went to the Ft. Fisher Aquarium the day after Thanksgiving. It was also the location for the Cape Fear Festival of Trees.



Pictures of the Christmas lights and decorations on Wrightsville Beach.



The Holiday Flotilla is the Saturday after Thanksgiving on the inland waterway. We didn't have a great spot to watch and take pictures, but we could see OK. I do wish we had been a little closer, but it was still fun and not as cold as in years past.



After our week at the beach I was ready to come home to these sweet girls!

November 2015 Events

So, November was a very busy month for us. We got to see one of our favorite bands in concert - Dead Sara, we celebrated our friends Mike and Leanda's daughter Clara Ann's first birthday and baptism, and I got LASIK surgery! Here are some pictures of our November events:




I have always wanted to have LASIK, but was really scared of having my eyes lasered! But, this year I just decided that I was going to do it. I was tired of dealing with contacts and glasses, so I made a consultation appointment with Providence Eye and was very pleasantly surprised at how easy it seemed to be. I had my surgery on Nov. 20 and 2 days later we left to go to Wilmington for the week of Thanksgiving. Other than having to do eye drops every hour the first week after surgery - the recovery was SO easy! Overall, the worst part was having to wear my glasses for 2 weeks before the consultation and surgery. I would HIGHLY recommend LASIK to anyone who's thinking about it. It was the easiest medical procedure I've ever had done! And it is SO awesome to be able to wake up every day and see without glasses or contacts! Here is a picture of me the day of my surgery with my eye shields on - I had to wear these after my surgery and to sleep in for the next few nights.

Other October Pictures

We finally started getting some fall color around October. Here are some pictures from a walk in our neighborhood:

And no month is complete without cat pictures. Once it gets cooler, the cats LOVE to snuggle more - with us and with each other. Here are some pictures of the cats snuggling with me on a cold night:

Mom-mom's 90th Birthday

My Grandmother turned 90 years old in October this year! Since that is such a huge milestone birthday earlier in the year I was trying to figure out what I could give her as a gift. My Grandmother loves anything homemade and isn't much for fancy or expensive gifts. I found an idea on Pintrest to create a Memory Jar. So, with my Mom's help we sent out requests to friends and family asking each person to write a few memories or wishes for my Grandmother's 90th birthday. About a week before her birthday we only had 80, but by the day before her birthday we had gotten 100 wishes and memories! I have NEVER been more excited to give someone a gift than this one. I knew my Grandmother would LOVE it! Unfortunately my Mom wasn't able to be there for my Grandmother's birthday this year, but we had me, Chad, my brother Fielding, my Uncle Tommy and Aunt Kim, my step-brother Mike and his girlfriend Amy. We all went out to eat where my brother surprised us all by paying the bill for our whole group, then we went back to my Grandmother's house for her to open gifts. She LOVED the memory jar and couldn't resist reading a few of the notes right away and had read them ALL by the next day! We really had a great time visiting with her and celebrating her 90th birthday. Here are some pictures from our visit for her birthday weekend:

Other September Pictures

This year my birthday fell on a Tuesday and if I can help it I always try to take my birthday off work, so this year I decided to take the day before and after my birthday too. It was great just sleeping in every and day and going for a walk or shopping. Then when I got back to work I am always surprised by how much my coworkers do for birthdays - I got tons of great, thoughtful gifts. Here are some pictures from my birthday:



At the end of September we were able to go hear the author Jan Karon speak at the ImaginOn library. While I've never read any of her books she is my grandmother's favorite author and since my grandmother's 90th birthday was the next month I knew I had to go and get an autographed copy of Jan Karon's newest book. I brought Chad along with me and I wasn't sure how much we would enjoy the talk since we haven't read her books, but we both really enjoyed it. She is a great speaker and we got a signed copy of her book for my grandmother too. Here are a few pictures from the author event with Jan Karon:


And no month is complete without some pictures of our cats!

Roxy chilling on some sheets we use in the basement.

Sandy and Roxy snuggling on the bed!

September 2015 Vacation

We decided to take our vacation this year at the end of August/beginning of September so that Chad would have earned more time off in his job. I thought it might end up being really hot, but we had fantastic weather and it only rained one day! Earlier in the summer was SO hot, but by August and September the weather was much better. We decided to buy a beach tent/shelter so that we could actually stay out on the beach longer without getting sunburned and it was the BEST purchase! We went out on the beach every day and were able to stay out longer and not get burned. Since our vacation was after school had started back there was hardly anyone out on the beach too, which was really nice. We were able to walk on the beach every day - even the day it rained we were able to take a walk between rain showers. Here are our pictures from our vacation this year:


On the day it rained we went to the Ft. Fisher Aquarium. Even though I've been the aquarium dozens of times I still love to go anytime we're at the beach.


One of the coolest things we did on this vacation was visit the Topsail Island Sea Turtle Hospital. My Dad lives near there so he came with us and it was really a cool place to visit. There are various stations with volunteers who talk about sea turtles and what they do at the hospital. Then you go into the room with all the tanks that are holding the sea turtles. Most of the turtles are only held there while they heal from an injury and then are released back into the wild. They were doing a release a few days after our visit, but unfortunately we were already home by then. Here are the pictures from the sea turtle hospital and hanging out with my Dad on the Surf City pier:



Here are the rest of the pictures from our vacation this year: