GO WOLFPACK!!

I just had to put a plug on here for the Pack. As avid Wolfpackers we acknowledge there aren't enough great days for the Pack and today is a great day. A win or loss tonight, it doesn't matter because we love the Red and White!!

Lately

I will start out with an awesome airplane pic that we took at RDU. We were just driving by the airport and saw the biggest plane we had ever seen across the runway. So we drove in and found this close spot to get a good look at it. A guy told Brandon it was a plane that landed from Denmark and was carrying huge generators and that within an hour it would be leaving for Alaska. So we went and grabbed dinner and then we to the top of the parking garage and saw it take off... it was soooo huge. Fun random event for us!

One Saturday in June we did a volunteer day with Builders for Hope in Durham. They are an organization that goes into neighborhoods to remodel houses that are abandoned and deemed not suitable to live in. I picked up trash in the yard and Brandon spent most of our time there trying to find the sewer cleanout cap. He a couple of others dug and dug and dug in the front yard of this house looking for a 4 inch cap. They never did find it before we had to leave. That part was frustrating but now we know where it is not!

This next picture is of a house that they have recently completely remodeled. Before they started it was abandoned and boarded up. The transformation was amazing.

The next event was our own little take on an event we first experienced with our friends, Caitlin and Jason. We decided to have a date night downtown and to get dessert from Hayes Barton Cafe. If you are in/near Raleigh and haven't had cake from this place then you are missing out. The pieces are absolutely huge. Thanks to C & J we brought our forks, water, and milk. We parked out front of the brand new Marriott hotel downtown and ate the cake at a little table. It was a beautiful night outside and we had a wonderful time together. Go and get yourself a piece of cake.

Over the July 4th weekend we made a last second break to Savannah, GA. On the Wednesday before the 4th we were thinking that we were crazy for not going anywhere when I had a day off. So C & J were awesome and took care of Lily while we went down to Savannah. It was a city that neither of us had ever been, but one that we always wanted to go together. It was pretty steamy down there weather-wise, very humid, but a beautiful fun city nevertheless.

The famous bridge with a big cargo ship going through the river.

Hanging out on the river front before the fireworks.

We ate at Paula Deen's restaraunt "The Lady and Sons". It was sooo good, and I wish I could have eaten more. We got the buffet with yummies such as pot roast, green beans, mac n cheese, black eyed peas, collards, yams, rice, butter beans, and the best mashed potatoes in the world (except for Mrs. Ivey's who was my babysitter growing up). I could have eaten my weight in those potatoes. And after all that the waitress brought out a dessert tray and I chose banana pudding and Brandon chose gooey buttercake (it looked really good too). It was a wonderful meal and no one should go to Savannah and not eat at her restaraunt, just make sure you get reservations early the morning of the day you want to go! Oh yeah, and I got my picture taken with Paula just for my Aunt Rose. See, I really did it!! ;-)

We took a trolley ride around the city to see all the touristy stuff. This sign was one of the many things noting just how old the city is.

A beautiful sunset over the river with the bridge in the background.

This was the view out of our hotel Viva. Paula's restaraunt is just where the red/white awning is and then to the backside of the building. Brandon did have a surprise for me even though we decided together where we were going. He said that we were staying a hotel ~8 blocks back from the river and it ended up that he got a reservation at a hotel less than 2 blocks from the river. It was very modern and had a comfy atmosphere.

Sorry this one is blurry but you can still get the point of it. The people went on both ways as far as we could see and then some more. I think it was the most people I had ever been with for an event such as this. And boy were we glad we had to walk only block or so to get back to our hotel because people were still in their cars long after the fireworks were over. We had a blast celebrating America's birthday!!

And of course I couldn't leave out our little Lily. We got her a new toy last week and this is when she met her new chicken friend. She never ceases to make us laugh!! Until next time...

We're still alive!!

Well everyone, don't worry, we are still alive and kicking. We are just not very good blog updaters. Here's our attempt to update you on what has been going on in our lives. First off, I wanted to show a pic of the now gone red and yellow tulips. I loved having them in our yard.

Next I wanted to add the picture of our niece, Haydyn Ryley Miller. She is Mary Beth's brother's, Matt, daughter. She will soon graduate from Kindergarten and is 6 (going on 20) years old. She is so much fun to play with and is growing up before our eyes.

We took a trip to Fancy Gap, VA where Mary Beth's parents have a cabin. We spent some time in the mountains doing mountain things. It was a lot of fun and we got to bring Lily so it was even better. We hiked at Pilot Mountain and got some fun pictures.

The cabin is near Mt. Airy so we walked around downtown "Mayberry", Andy Griffith's stomping grounds.

This is the largest open face granite quarry in the world, right there in Mt. Airy. It was really neat to see.

We have taken a trip to Surf City, NC for a weekend at the beach. Mary Beth's Aunt Rose has a beach cottage that she let us visit for a weekend. We considered this our anniversary trip and had a wonderful time. Brandon bought a $3 Spiderman kite before we left and it definitely gave him its $3 worth. We enjoyed celebrating our 3 years of marriage. The Lord has blessed us so much over those years and we can't wait for what he has ahead of us. I can't wait for many more years, I love you baby!


We, also, have been to a Carolina Mudcats game. It was a short drive out to the park and got great tickets for free... AW from work hooked us up as her neighbor is somehow involved with the team. Sorry, no pics from that night.

We have taken Brandon's car to the shop 3 times to get repaired, one of which included breaking down on the side of 40 during rush hour, on the way to our lovely beach trip. Yeah, that was a story we will never forget. Anyway, MB's parents came and picked us up and let us drive their car to the coast. We found out the engine was shot and we had to get a new one. A salvage place in Dunn had one with 30,000 miles for much cheaper than a brand new one so we gladly took it. We just got it back a few days ago and hopefully it won't present us with any more big issues. Oh, I forgot to mention that we got the title from the dealership 2 days before we got the news about the engine.. timing is everything...haha.

Lily definitely has been doing her job of making us laugh. I randomly starting putting my visor and sunglasses on her and she was a good sport. Check these out...

In this video she is showing her smarts... (that's me snickering in the background, she is so funny!!)

On a not so happy note, our hamster died. It's not hibernation this time. Brandon went in to visit her when we got back from the beach and she was sprawled out in her food bowl and her head was on her wheel, her favorite 2 places. We buried her in our backyard and our neighbor gave us a plant to plant over her. She was a good girl and we miss her.

Brandon's 25th birthday was May 19. I got him surprise Hurricanes tickets to playoff game 4 against the Boston Bruins. They lost that game (won the series, though) but we had a wonderful time shouting and swinging the rally towels.

May 20th was our 3 year anniversary. We marked it by going out the eat the weekend before and catching a movie. The night of our anniversary Brandon grilled awesome steaks and we had dinner in. We had a great night hanging out and loving our lives together. Marriage is wonderful!! I love you!!

I came home from work one day to this on the sidewalk:

Isn't he wonderful? I can't tell you how that made me feel inside.. like the luckiest girl in the world. I am the luckiest girl in the world, hands down.

The renovated front and back yards are looking great! Hopefully pictures will follow including the hammock Brandon gave me for our anniversary. It's awesome back there! Well that's a good catch up I suppose. Until next time...

Beautiful kids.. our nieces and nephews (minus one)

We don't have our own so we get to put all our love and kisses into these cool kids... our nieces and nephews. In all we have 5 of them, 3 girls and 2 boys.

The newest addition: Lillian "Lily" Claire Pearson (don't get her confused with our little Lily). She was born Feb. 13th and almost waited for my birthday. She is the daughter of Brandon's older bro Chris and his wife Kim. She is as adorable as she can be, and such a great baby. She didn't mind at all posing for the pics I kept snapping of her.

Isaiah Reid Pearson is Lily's older brother, he will be 4 in April. He's such a fun little guy and we enjoy each time we get to play with him. He's full of energy just as you would expect from an almost 4 year old. This boy can throw a ball like nobody's business, and I mean fast and accurate. He's gonna be a great ball player of some sort one day not to far off. As you can see, he didn't mind posing for the picture either.

Anna Belle Corbitt is Brandon's older sister Jennifer and her husband Nate's first child. She is always pretty as a princess and has the sweetest little voice. Brandon likes tickling her and I believe she likes for him to as well. Jennifer and Nate live near Asheville so we don't get to see them as much as we would like but we enjoy all the time we get to spend with them.

Ryan Nathan Corbitt is Anna's younger brother. He will be 2 in August. The first pic is a more serious pic of him than he normally is. Our camera was being slow (low battery) and when I told him to smile he gave me a big cheesy grin and then would quit before the pic snapped. The second pic is where I finally got the huge smile. He loved me taking his picture over and over again until I got him smiling. He loves to watch ballgames on TV is the world's youngest all-out Chicago Cubs fan. He is the sweetest little guy and we love seeing him when we do.

We have one more niece Haydyn, my bro's little girl (who's now 6 and in Kindergarten, I can't believe it!). The camera battery was completely dead by the time I tried to take her picture so we will have to get a raincheck and post later. So now you know how cute they are and how much joy they bring into our lives.

They are getting bigger

More pretty pics of the tulips growing... I can't get over how big and beautiful they are. They are very close to the colors I had in my bouquet when we got married. I love it!!

My most favorite girl...

I couldn't resist putting pictures of my favorite girl. I love her so much!!

Her favorite activity, especially after eating, is chewing her bone. She loves it so much after she's finished eating that we sometimes refer to it as her stogie.

Cute as she can be. Look at her front paws, seriously that is normal. I think she is waiting patiently for dinner, with her stogie nearby of course.

My Oncology family

2 of my close c0-workers have recently left the vet school to pursue opportunities in private practices. We had parties for both of them leaving. I didn't bring my camera the day Meghann left but I remembered it for the day Fanchette left.

This is Fanchette with her going-away cake.

A close-up of her cake. Notice it's "half-black". We have a running joke about "half-black" because although Fanchette is "full-black" one of our doctors mentioned some time ago about her being "half-black" honestly thinking so because is so light skinned. We've all had many laughs about that and it couldn't be passed up when she left.

When one of our special patients die we usually try to send the owners a "Dog Heaven" or "Cat Heaven" book signed by those in our Oncology service. Well, since Fanchette was leaving us, Dr. Benoit decided to make her a "Tech Heaven" book, complete with funny pics and room for us to write our last words... hilarious stuff right there!

This is my almost complete dysfunctional Oncology family, plus a few extras!!

Lucky our hamster

I will start this post out by saying that we have a pet hamster. I got her from work almost 2 years ago. She was part of a handling technique lab for vet students and when they were done she was up for adoption... hence, we have Lucky (Brandon named her!) Well, 2 weeks ago I came home from work and Brandon greeted me at the door as always, but this time he acted a little weird. He immediately told me that he thought Lucky was dead. He said that he went in to check on her around 2 that afternoon and she was sprawled out face down in her food bowl. He picked her up and held her for about 15 minutes before putting her back in her igloo (where she sleeps). He thought she was dead when he picked her up and then when she wasn't he put her back thinking she would surely pass quietly in her igloo. So when I got home and went in to check on her, she was still alive. Honestly, he couldn't believe it because of how little she was moving when he had picked her up earlier. I picked her up and she was so cold to the touch that I held her close for a few minutes. She also had both eyes closed and wouldn't respond to the peanut butter I put on my fingertip. I felt that she could have been suffering so I told Brandon that we should take her to the exotic vet to be euthanized. He wasn't too fond of doing that but said that we should put a heating pad around her. We got one from our neighbor and wrapped her up in a towel inside of the heating pad. After ~30 minutes she slowly began to open one eye. After about an hour in the heating pad she began to crawl a little and about 15 minutes later she had both eyes open and was walking out of the heating pad. We were amazed. We decided to put her back in her cage and place the heating pad underneath it. Then she started doing this weird thing where she would walk a few steps and then fall down, seemingly out of it. Then she would get back up and do it again. Brandon, being the engineer that he is, proceeded to google "my hamster keeps passing out". He found a few message boards of other people describing almost exactly what had been happening to her over the last hour or so. The responses to the messages said that she had most likely been hibernating. What.... hibernating?? It said that sometimes hamsters can go into a state of temporary hibernation, called torpor. We were shocked and happy to say the least. The website said to give her a few hours and she would be back to normal and that's exactly what happened. The next day she was perfectly fine, running in her wheel and everything. We couldn't believe it... and to think that I had actually said that we should have her euthanized, wow! She is still doing fine now. Crazy, huh?

Lily and Carlie

Lily had a friend to come over recently. Her name is Carlie and she and Lily had lots of fun chasing each other. We have kept Carlie when Jessica and Caleb have gone out of town but this time Jessica stayed for few hours with me as Brandon was a proctor for Caleb's exam. Jessica and I had a great time hanging out and the girls were so funny as they played.

Here are 2 pictures of them looking out the window at their daddys... so sweet and cute. Aren't they both so long? Carlie makes Lily look so much bigger than she really is. I'm sure Lily would welcome Carlie to come back and play anytime, and I would too!!

YM1 Lifeclass Progressive Dinner

Our Sunday School class had a progressive dinner a couple of weeks ago and we were the host house for the first course, salad. There were 22 people that attended, I think. To fit everyone we had to get creative by bringing in patio furniture, borrowing a car table, and using the famous Reynolds chairs that we got during our time at NCSU. The whole evening was great, we had lots of fun with good friends. Here are a few pics of the time at our house and at the Byrum's house for dessert. I was too busy eating Katy's ziti to take any pics of the main course.

Beautiful Tulips... my favorite!!

Tulips are my absolute favorite flower. We had lots of them in our wedding and I just love them. We had a little place out by our mailbox that we wanted to plant something in since we moved to our house. Last fall, Haydyn, our neice, was selling things for her school and one of the things was a bag of tulip bulbs. We thought we would give them a try out by the mailbox. When the ones we got from her came in we also went by Lowes to get some more. We planted them last fall (supposedly the time to plant them) and over the past few weeks we have had growth! I have been singing to them, wishing them to grow and be beautiful. And... they are!