First cut of the season. Aaron loves this home owner responsibility. I love that it's getting warmer!

This weekend we went to NC so that Aaron could hang out with guys for Joseph Bobbit's bachelor party. They had plans to play basketball in the afternoon and then go to a movie, but they ended up playing bball the entire time...9-10 hours! I wish he had taken my camera so that he could get a picture of the sweaty guys, but I took my camera to Raleigh to take this picture of me and Kristen:We went to Cameron Village for dinner and to CookOut for mint milkshakes. It was a fun catch-up time and conversations about how to serve our husbands. She is so encouraging to me. Their home is beautiful!
We were thankful to stay with Mike, Peggy, and Brooke over the weekend. They are perfect hosts...it is always so relaxing when we visit them.
Now back to work in Salem! Our Monday was busy, busy, but the weather is so nice that we don't mind running around. Hope you've had a great start to the week!
~Congratulations to Michael and Rebecca McNeal...going to have a baby BOY in August!

Yes, this display is in our neighborhood. If you look closely you can see that he is even on a leash. At night there is a spotlight on him. We haven't met these neighbors yet, but we've met their dead dog!

Yesterday was Granddaddy's birthday, but we celebrated it on Sunday with him in Greensboro. What a treat! We met there for lunch at Carrabba's. It was great to catch up with them and hear about the day he was born, which he so vividly remembers :). It was a big birthday- 3/4 of a century for him- and he's done a lot of worthy things during that time! We had cake and presents.
Hope you've had a great birthday, Granddaddy!Wonder who picked out that bag? Aaron was really tempted to keep the present we gave him- Vol.1 of ESPN's College Basketball's Greastest Moments. We hope he liked it as much!

This afternoon Kari and I threw a shower for our friend Katie. She is due to have a baby boy, Spencer, in 4 weeks! She got some very practical items, and we had a great time eating cake! After the shower, Katie invited us into her home to see their nursery. It's perfect! Aaron was able to go out to watch March Madness with the husbands of these girls while we were showering Katie.These are the girls from Glenvar...minus a few who couldn't make it.

It's been warmer here this week, and we have our first bloom in the yard! It's small, but it made me excited about the coming spring season. We are very curious about what flowering plants we will see in our yard.And here are two dozen blooms that surprised me today at school! What a great husband and a great day.

Family Flies Flags at Half-Staff to Remember Soldier

Posted: Mar. 8, 2007
Ayden — Two flags fly at half-staff in front of Cathy Moore’s Ayden home in honor of her son who sacrificed everything.

We've had a great weekend. Grandma came up for a surprise visit and fixed fried chicken for all of us yesterday afternoon. It was great to see her. When Aaron found out that she was coming, her meal was all that he could talk about until we could actually get there.After that dinner, we met up with the Sunday School class for a game of bowling. I had the highest score of anyone on the first round (yes, even Aaron!), but Aaron came back to redeem himself the second game. It was fun!We worshipped together this morning, and then ate lunch at Erin and Nathan's house (sadly, we caught the 2nd half of the ACC championship...the Wolfpack just couldn't pull through). After we got home we turned right around and left for Vinton to eat an authentic Italian dinner with the Montouri family that I mentioned a few posts ago. It's been a busy day! Hope you've had fun, too.

Last year around this time my dad had a terrible accident on his tractor. He was riding around on his property and rolled off a cliff...he was pinned under the tractor. Thankfully, he had his cell phone with him and so he could call for help. He spent the night in the hospital with some damage done to his ankle. He was on crutches for a while and mom had to doctor his bandages where a part of the tractor had pierced his leg. Ahhh! Here are some pictures (you might be able to click on them to make them bigger):

torn to pieces...

Oops! off the cliff

The sad thing for him was that his tractor was messed up. After a year of tracking down the right parts in VA and in NC, a paint job, and who knows what other repairs, he finally got it back this weekend. He was so excited...mom said, "like a boy at Christmas!" He is really proud to show these pictures:Looks good!

For the last 4 weeks at school, we have had secret pals- I gave my secret pal small gifts of encouragement throughtout the week, and whoever had me as a secret pal did the same for me. Yesterday after school we had a "revealing party" and I found out who she was...she was a great secret pal! She lifted me up so many times during the week with lots of perfect gifts! The funny thing is that I used to know her when I was younger from Girl Scout camp every summer...I still call her Giggles (her camp name). It was a fun end to a fun exchange.

Last night we went out with Joey, Sierra, and Michael (Michael is taking the picture). We ate a new Mexican restaurant called Abuelos (Aaron and I have been there 3 times in 3 weeks!), and then saw the 300 movie. I turned my head for most of it...a man's man movie.

On Thursday night Aaron encouraged me by going with me to my school's Family Reading Night. We had two cars full of the families of my ESL students (I knew they really wanted to go, but it's hard when they don't have transportation!). We had a good turnout- about 3/4 of the ELL students were there. The kids loved it, and it was good for me and Aaron to get to know the families better. They served a spaghetti dinner, read lots of stories, and opened the bookfair. We hope these kids get the message that reading is important!Stanlyn and Jovina came from a Liberian refugee camp last spring. They are so sweet! All the kids wore their pajamas to get them in the mood for bedtime stories.

Rosa and Maria are from Mexico...close to where Peepaw is from. I really enjoy teaching them.

On Wednesday we spent 3 1/2 hours at the DMV to get our new drivers licenses and tags. We caused so much trouble, but I guess the guy at the counter had sympathy for us and gave us several breaks so that we wouldn't have to go back. Glad to have that finished (it only took us 4 months to do it)!

Mom and I have signed up for a quilting class- Beginner's Hand Piecing and Quilting. Scary! We had our first class last night and it was a fun start...a little intimidating, but I think we'll get the hang of it. This is the piece we worked on (we're working together on the same quilt to start off)...it looks ragged, but it's supposed to! Our homework is to make 9 more of these for the next class...doesn't seem much, but it takes a while to do with clumsy hands! If you've seen pictures of our living room, you can tell by the colors that it will probably go in there.

We have become members of a church! When considering the decision to move to Salem, church was heavy on our minds because we weren't sure of the choices in this smaller town. We remembered, though, that if God was calling us to be here, that he already had one that was right for us, so we were reassured about the move. The first sermon that we heard at West Salem left us just staring at each other- we weren't surprised at God's faithfulness, but speechless with thanksgiving. We joined this past Sunday and it was a great celebration.
Check it out at www.wsbaptist.org

This Friday night we went to see the reigning 2006 Miss Groovy Teen Michael Flores walk the runway one last time. Glenvar High School has the longstanding tradition of raising money for prom by letting the junior guys dress up like women for a beauty pageant. We are so proud of Michael for his title.

Lots has happened since our last post...a week is full of fun things! Last weekend we mentioned that we were going to a party for CJ. It was a great time, and we are pretty sure that he was surprised (good job, Carissa!). Here are some pictures for that.
Carissa is talking with CJ's dad about business.

Looks like Jeremy is bowling on the Nintendo Wii.

We were able to meet CJ's family, too.

My favorite spot! Very yummy desserts :)

I had also mentioned that we were going to have dinner with some Italian friends on Sunday night. We were glad to get to know them better. Franco and Antonio are some of my students. Franco Sr. works with his brother Tony at NY Pizza, wearing the gold chain and all. They are a fun family to talk with!