She's here!!

We received exciting news yesterday morning, around 8am that Naomi and Micah were heading to the hospital and she was in labor. Around noon we had gotten the news that baby Kimberly Abigail was born at 10:55am. Weighing in a 7lbs and 7oz.

We drove to Raleigh and met up with Stephen's mom and aunt and brothers, and a few others to meet the sweet new baby. I have to admit, that I couldn't get enough of her! She is absolutely perfect. We will be heading back down to Raleigh on Saturday I think, when the baby and parents are all back at home.

One other side thing that happened, Stephen and I finally met Mike! This was very exciting as well, and we liked him so very much! Hopefully we will be seeing more of him in the future. :)

Happy New Years to all!

Christmas is over..

Its all over.. I survived the two weeks AND finals and came out with one of the best semester gpa's ever! Crazy! One semester left and I am done!!

Christmas is actually over and it was great! Its always so busy, but I love spending time with everyone and eating LOTS and LOTS of great food! We got so many gifts and I have no idea where I am going to put everything.. Thats one item on the checklist of things to do. Clean everything in the house and put away christmas gifts in an organized fashion. I want everything clean and organized when I ring in the new year. It has to reflect how the next year is going to go. Clean, organized, and smooth!

I'm looking forward to 2008. I have alot of things I am ready to accomplish. For so many years I have said I want to get in shape or stay organized for my resolution but I decided not to do that this year. Why? Because its not necessary. Those are things that I want in life to make my life better. They are all obtainable with a little bit of work and they should be things I do anyway. So Im not making them a resolution, only a commitment. My resolution is to show people my appreciation and gratefulness more often. I am surrounded by so many people who make my life wonderful and all to often I get to busy and caught up in life to let them know how much I appreciate them. This year I am going to try to be better about that.

Already December!

I can't believe its December already, and I just know this month is going to fly by as well..

Thanksgiving was great at my dad's! What a nice change from the running back and forth between families. I'm not going to lie though, I really did miss my black Friday shopping. Yes, you heard right.. I did not go in even one store that day. Craziness!

This past weekend was a busy but good one.. I had to work, and then worked a little on papers that I needed to be working alotta on. We went to Karen's graduation party that night and had a really good time. Sunday, we met Stephen's mom and grandmother at Smithfields outlet malls for lunch and some shopping. Unfortunately we came back with nothing in the line of christmas gifts. Oh well! To finish off the weekend, we did what we do every first weekend in December. We went and bought our christmas tree! I LOVE it! Its my favorite thing to do.. I will be sure to post pictures.

Now the craziest week of my life begins. I told Stephen this morning if I survive this I can survive anything. This week I have two research papers due, 2 smaller papers due, 1 test and Holly's wedding this weekend. On top of that, I still have to work like normal, and there is a meet this weekend that I have a few kids attending without me, so their parents have set up extra lessons. Anyway, I'll try to get back on here after this week is over and post pictures.

Two weeks until my one year anniversary! Can you believe it! So excited!!

I am so bad at this..

This really frustrates me to a bit that I can't keep up with this enough to write at least once a week.. Ugh! So much has happened in 4 months that I don't even no where to recap..

Stephen had his 26th birthday in October and enjoyed a relaxing week off! It was fun for both of us, because I love so much having him home.. Other birthdays that we celebrated were Tiffany's 20th and Lori's 24th. All fun times!

Some other celebrations to come our way.. Lots and lots of weddings for next year.. Allison Bostic got engaged and is getting married in October, can't wait! My diamond Heather is engaged and has set a date also in October! Fun fun! My sweet friend Alice is getting married in June and I can't wait for that. And the most recent my roomie Carrie is ENGAGED!! Yay! Lots and lots of excitement.

To top it all off, we just had a baby shower for Stephen's cousins, who is due with her first baby Jan 9th. I also can't wait for that!! Nothing is more fun than a new baby! The shower went really well and all seemed to have a good time. Also a few months ago Holly asked me to help coordinate her wedding. It was the best thing that has happened to me all year! Literally I jumped up and down for a long time when she asked! I love event planning and I am so excited to finally have events to work on.

I have been working hard at finishing my last fall semester. I signed up for my last semester of classes for the spring and then I am finally DONE in May. While doing all of that I am still working at the gym and in fact, have an athlete right now in Canada for the World Age Group Games. In between all of this, I am working hard trying to get my event planning company going. Stephen and I are doing lots and lots of research about starting your own business and such and I am working on some certifications. It should be running smooth by the time I graduate!

Besides all of that, we have Thanksgiving coming up and we are going to Florida for the first time to have Thanksgiving with my dad. I just can't wait! It also just so happened that my good friend from elementary school, Nicole, will be celebrating her daughters 1st birthday that weekend and I will get to be there.

As you can see lots and lots of great stuff.. Some bad too but only enough time to write the good. I promise, for those of you that do read this, I will try to keep up better!!!

Glad to have a laptop!

So yes its been a while.. Alot has happened like Stephens family reunion and our trip to Kings Dominion, all which were a blast!

My dad flew in from Florida on Tuesday and I was about to burst to see him! I had my knee surgery on Wednesday and everything went as well as could be expected. I will post pictures later. I didn't have to stay overnight and really and truly have been in very little pain. It has been so nice to have my dad here just to have someone to talk to when Stephen hasn't been here and Stephen has been incredibly helpful throughout the past few days. Especially after being glued to a chair with my leg up for the past 3 days and going stir crazy. My dad brought his laptop with him and I was so excited to actually get to be on the computer. This way I don't have to go upstairs and can still keep my leg up with ice.

Besides being tired of sitting things are going well. My grandmother and aunt and cousin are coming up tomorrow and maybe I'll get out in the world a little while. I'm looking forward to them finally seeing my house!!

Fun times!

Soo life has been incredibly busy recently. My diamond and I spent most of Friday driving around Greensboro gazing at all the million dollar homes on Lake Jeanette and eating cheesecake at Barnes and Noble. Then my grand diamond came into town that night and we met for dinner. It was great! I felt like I hadn't had much girl time in a while and I needed it!

Saturday Stephen and I spent alot of time getting things organized and together in our house for the arrival of our guest. Then on Sunday we went to Carole Ann's and had a cook out by the pool. It was alot of fun and then we returned with Ryan and Mark.

Thus far this week has been good, but crazy busy! Monday and Tuesday were crazy long days at work. I did have a meeting with Sally about some of my concerns and she is taking a week to think about things. I'll update that later. Possibilities are still out there.. However Carolyn and Michelle have been out for 2 weeks now and I have been picking up alot of their classes as if I needed more.

We have had alot of fun so far with Ryan and Mark. Stephen has been taking them to the pool everyday and working out and playing basketball and such.. Yesterday they climbed the rockwall for 3 hours!! Ryan got belay certified and is very proud and Mark climbed 14 different walls!

Anyway life is going well! Pictures later!

Odds and Ends

The newly painted computer room..


The newly painted guest bedroom..

So this past weekend when most couples are out on dates to the movies and dinner, Stephen and I stayed home and painted. We painted both of our upstairs bedrooms, as well as spent an enormous amount of time fixing little odds and ends around the house. All in preparation for our 3 weeks of guest. Sunday night Ryan and Mark will come up to stay with us for two weeks, and hopefully during that time we will see Carole Ann for a visit. After that is my knee surgery and my dad (and possibly Carole Ann) will be coming to stay with us as well. Yay! I love having house guest and am trying to make my house as comfortable as possible.

Work thus far this has been okay.. Nothing great for either of us although I am planning to meet with my boss sometime about important issues concerning pay and vacation days.

More than anything this week Stephen and I are just focused on getting our house in shape for our coming guest. Can't wait!!

Motivation

Okay as I sit here, I am trying to make myself go to the gym and work out. Today I actually do want to go but I can't get Stephen to budge from the bed. Ugh! We never want to go at the same time, and while I could go alone, I'd prefer not to.

I also have so much left to do. I did finally start painting and will finish that today! For sure! Everything gets done today and then tomorrow is for relaxing..

I'm so frustrated with my job right now, that I don't even know what to do. Some of my groups are going quite well except I have one new group, comprised of old optionals kids from Alexei and Scott, and new ones from me. I feel like Scott, the guy teaching with me feels like I am completely incompetent and thus will be leading the class. Even though when I agreed to teach this class I thought I was going to be the lead. Its not going to work out. I know its not. It will become the class I dread. Can't wait. Needless to say its been on my mind constantly and I can't seem to shake it. I am exploring some options once I motivate myself to do so and we'll see where that goes. He and I just don't mesh and its never going to work.

Anyway that was my vent, on to get stuff done today and get Stephen moving.

Happy 4th of July!

I hope that everyone had a good and safe 4th of July. Stephen and I didn't do to much in celebration. We went to a movie (Oceans 13.. eh it was okay), and came back and have been cleaning, organizing and preparing both our spare bedrooms to be painted tomorrow when I get home from work. I have learned today that no matter what, I will NEVER put wallpaper up ANYWHERE in my home. The stupid people that lived here before put up a wall paper boarder in each of the bedrooms and then randomly stuck pieces on the walls. For two days we have been working to try and get it off. Ridiculous!

Anyway tomorrow is back to normal.. kind of. Back to work at least for both of us. I'm going to have very small groups and it will be my first day with my new optionals group. Should be interesting, we'll see!

Pictures of Nationals

Here are some pictures from Nationals..

Updates

I'm not doing a very good job with updating this.. I'll try to keep up better.

So today I went back to the orthopedic about the results of my MRI. Basically I was told the good news first: my ACL is not torn...

Then the bad news: I don't have an ACL!!! WHAT! Basically I have worn my ACL down so much that it is gone. Craziness! I also have a torn meniscus. I tell you I can't do anything half way. Anyway I will be having knee surgery on it August 1st.. So if anyone wants to come hang out and have all day movie dates with me feel free.

Some good notes though, we helped Carole Ann move into her new apartment. It is really nice and I think she is going to love having a roommate so much better. Then we went to Wilmington for the day and returned back with some new furniture! So exciting!!!

Stephen's brothers will be coming down in a week and a half to stay with Carole Ann for a few days and then with us for a week and a half before his family reunion in Virginia. We are both really excited but I know Stephen is about to burst for them to get here. In the meantime I am trying to get everything organized on my days off and do a little painting. So far, neither room is painted yet.

One other thing happened this weekend, my little diamond Heather is got engaged! I am so excited for her and can't wait to hear all about it. It has put me back in the planning mindset and recently I have been working on getting ideas together for my grandparents 50th reunion party as well as work on some ideas for my moms wedding. No dates set but we're working on them..

Back from Memphis

FINALLY! I am back from Memphis! For the first time ever, I was pleading to go back home early.. It was a long frustrating week for the most part. My 9s and 10s did okay.. Well one did pretty well, and the other two did okay.. But my 7s and 8s went on Wednesday.. I was in the gym literally from 7:30am until 9:15pm and did not see the sun once that day! To make matters worse, I had such HIGH expectations from this group because they are my solid, always do well group, and stupid things were happening. Things that have never happened. I guess that is what Nationals will do for you. Basically by the end of that day I had one silver medal from one of them (which I was very proud of) and a 4th, a 7th, 2-9ths, and a 10th. Not terrible but I had such hopes for more medals that day, and a NATIONAL Champion.
Surprisingly my good day was on Thursday. Almost every single person made it on the podium.It was my kids that had never been to Nationals that pulled through, and held their own. I was incredibly proud of them that day. Plus two of my girls won and are National Champions!!!
Our team totaled with 5 gold medals,all from different people which really is a good thing! I was just frustrated with a certain group that was ready, and didn't come through. Now however I have to come home and sort through the chaos of gossip that the parents decided to participate in while we were gone. Fun! I never was more convinced then this week, how much this was not a job for me!!
Stephen had a good time relaxing without me. I was so incredibly glad to see him last night, and am making it a point today to spend as much time with him doing nothing!

MRI

So today is the day that I have to go in for an MRI on my knee. I have never had one before so I am a little anxious but more than anything I am frustrated because I won't meet back with the doctor until July 3 to find out the results of it. I'm just crossing my fingers that the ACL is not torn after all. Anything but that would be acceptable.

Besides that today is the last day for one of my groups to practice before leaving to Nationals. They are all doing their routines for their parents tonight. That should be interesting. I found out last night that two of my level 10s were leaving THIS morning. Not until last night!! I thought I was going to be sick. They are missing two practice (thats 5 hours) that I was completely not prepared for them to miss! Ahhh! Oh well nothing to do about it now!

Anyway its getting close, I have to get all of my packing done today which is what I am about to go do.. I have to buy some of the necessities for Nationals. Its getting closer and I am getting super excited though!

One other exciting note.. Carole Ann comes back from London today!! Yay! Keep her in your thoughts that she has safe travels. I can't wait to hear all about her trip!

Its finally over!!!

I did it! I am finished for the summer. Two writing intensive classes in five weeks, what was I thinking. But I have come out alive, and made it! I took my final in one class today, and turned my 50 page book in to the other class. Done!!

Now the only thing left to worry about is Nationals. I leave for Nationals on Friday, and while I haven't quite yet had enough time for it to seek in, I know the excitement is coming. This is the week I look forward to all year, the week that matters more than anything else!

Anyway, this is all the writing I am doing today! My poor fingers need a break! I'm going to actually be lazy and watch tv like a normal person.

Writers Block

Okay so I am sitting here at the computer, as I have been for the past 5 weeks trying to get words on the paper for this last assignment due for my CST 315 assignment. I just can't get it started. Yes its due today, and thus is probably the problem.. but oh well! Its an analysis of persuasion on the internet. Talk about persuasion. I was doing political persuasion (surprise, surprise) and I was on Mitt Romney's website, which had a link to facebook, which caused me to look up some of my friends recent updates, which came up with her blog, which lead me to create my own..

I really like this idea of having a blog of whats going on for a few different reasons. One is I am much more likely to write if its on the computer, and I think especially after this 5 weeks of summer school it is good to keep things written down, and two it gives people a chance to see what is going on. I feel like I run into moments of being MIA for long periods of time, and I generally regret that because I would always much rather be doing things with friends and family. So for those reading, here is another way to catch up..

There isn't much going on right now, except summer school and work! Summer school has kicked my butt. Two writing intensive classes in 5 weeks was a bad idea, but I am done tomorrow and will be very thankful for the credit hours! As far as work, Nationals is a week away! I can't believe it is that close. I think we are almost ready and hopefully after this week, I will be certain! Cross your fingers. As for Stephen, he is doing good! From what I understand his week started off really bad last week, and by Friday it was back to running smoothly again. He came and helped me with the team sleepover on Saturday night. I am so very thankful for that. It gave me a chance to actually spend some time with him since I feel like I haven't seen him in a while. Then Sunday was spent catching up on sleep from the sleepover, and the past 5 weeks.

Okay thats all for now, I think.. I figured if I started writing anything it would help me to start writing for my papers. Wish me luck!