Suddenly Snowden

Weekend in Pictures

2012-02-16T08:39:00.001-06:00

**Cute Children Alert**

My brother and his wife have the cutest little boy and babygirl – am I’m not just saying that because they are my niece and nephew. Honest. You’ve seen my husband’ssister’s girls here and you know they are adorable. So you might say I’m usedto be surrounded by such cuteness!

My brother and his family came to stay with me this weekendand I thought I’d let you see for yourself just how precious their little onesare. Here is our weekend in pictures…

Good Morning!

Sweet girl

The computer mouse was his phone

Ready for bed

Trying on Daddy's shoes

We love our little nephew and niece!

What weekend in pictures would be complete without our babies?

Sweet Daphne Doodle

Cash watching for cats...

In his favorite napping spot - under the bed!

Happy Anniversary Twinkle & Boscoe

2012-02-15T08:24:00.000-06:00

In 1969 Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, the averagecost of a new house was $15,550, Sesame Street debuted on PBS, gas was $0.35,nearly 350,000 people attended Woodstock and

…these two lovebirds got married! Happy 43rd anniversary to my adorable parents!

He was a blond-haired blue-eyed college student working thatsummer at a full service gas station. She was beautiful with loooooong darkhair, and fresh out of high school. She came to hisgas station and well, the rest is history.

Their first date followed – pizza and amovie at the fabulous Fox in downtown Atlanta.

A couple of years later they got married…nine years laterthey had me (best day of their lives I’m sure) and three years after that theyhad my little brother.

Now they’re grandparents to two little ones with a third grand baby on the way!

Happy Anniversary Twinkle & Boscoe!!

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T08:09:00.000-06:00

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY to you!

My sweet honey and I don’t always get to spend this daytogether (thanks Army!) but we make the most of it when we can. We’re not oneof those couples who don’t “believe” in Valentine’s Day and we’re also not oneof those couples who only do sweet things one day a year. We celebrate our loveall year long but we always try to do something special on Valentine’s Day too!

I’ll take any excuse to make my husband feel loved –Valentine’s Day or not!

2010: Our First Valentine’s Day – Sunday, February 14

On our First Valentine’s Day, Honey came to see me (we lived4-hours apart) and we spent a fabulous weekend together! We had just said thosethree little words the weekend before so we spent our first Valentine’s weekendsaying those words at every opportunity! We drove all over the city exploringand playing and then had dinner at one of my f-a-v-o-r-i-t-e restaurants. Hereare a few of my favorite pictures from that weekend!

Who doesn't take pics while pumping gas?

No one makes me laugh like he does!

The waitress thought we had been together forever and my heartsoared! (It had only been 5 weeks!)

We had previously planned a ski trip out west the followingweekend so after we kissed goodbye on Valentine’s Day, Honey and I werereunited 4 days later in Texas on our layover to snowy Colorado! It was awonderful trip filled with so many sweet memories!

On the plane, SO HAPPY!

2011: Our Second Valentine’s Day 2011 – Monday, February 14

Honey and I had been engaged for 6 months and were onlythree months away from walking down the aisle. The weekend before Valentine’sDay, my brother generously agreed to drive a U-Haul truck FULL of my stuff,4-hours to my Honey’s house. My parents also generously agreed to make thedrive to help unload it! I was so incredibly thankful to my family for givingof their time to help little ol’ me! After we spent some time together everyonereturned home while Honey and I celebrated Valentine’s Day together! It was awonderful night of dinner and dancing but sadly, no pictures!

We did not go skiing last year because we were busy withwedding planning and Honey was nursing a knee injury…

Next year our Valentine’s Day will be different with an8-month-old baby to celebrate with us!

What are you doing this Valentine’s Day?

Gender Reveal Party: Waddle It Be?

2012-02-13T09:11:00.001-06:00

“Waddle It Be?” A boy or a girl?

There was plenty of yellow and lots of ducks at our “WaddleIt Be” Gender Reveal Party in late January. We wanted to learn the sex of our little bump while surrounded by familyand friends so what better reason to throw a celebration? I called it a “GenderReveal Party” but Honey said it was really more of “A Party Just to Have aParty”…well that is kinda true, let’s face it, a Gender Reveal Party is just afancy excuse to have your nearest and dearest over to eat, drink and be merry! Acouple of our guests asked us to throw a “Name Reveal Party” when we decided ona name. Well, let’s not get too carried away…

We sent invitations out the minute ~~I convinced~~ weagreed to have the party and then we prayed that our ultrasound technicianwould see our baby’s gender at our appointment that week!

The party was two days after our ultrasound when I was 18.5 weeks pregnant and we wereTHRILLED when the technician was able to see our little one’s gender!! We hadher write the gender down and place it in a sealed envelope. ~~We went backand forth over whether we should just open the envelope and look inside~~. Wepromptly delivered the sealed envelope to our caterer without looking inside.She made cupcakes for the event placing pink or blue icing inside each cupcakebased on what the gender was. We were soexcited!!

Finally the day came to have our family and friends over andfind out if we are having a boy or a girl!! Our front door sported the “Baby S”Duck Wreath I made similar to our Army Wreath for football season.

We set up a welcome table in our foyer to display a verysweet book that not only matched our theme for the party but also provided aguest book for our friends and family to write a sweet note to our little one.Also on the welcome table we asked our guests to “take a quack at it” and wear apink or blue clothespin and then indicate their guess of boy or girl on thechalkboard.

"Take a Quack" will it be a boy or girl?

We are open to names for our little bump so in the livingroom we had big teddy bear jar for guests to leave name suggestions. Weprovided pink and blue paper and it was a riot looking through all those nameslater! We got some great suggestions!

Our kitchen side board got a slight makeover with some yellowand white polka dot fabric to server as our drink table. We served yellowlemonade (of course!) with yellow stripped straws (they were so cute!) and hadplenty of water, beer and “mock”-tails on hand. The other moms-to-be enjoyedour “mock”-tails which we made from sparkling apple cider and frozenraspberries – yummmmm!

To dress up our plastic water bottles, I ordered waterbottle labels that matched our invitations and our “Waddle It Be” theme.

The drink menu was listed on our kitchen chalkboard…

Yellow and white tissue balls decorated our dining room –these were cheap to purchase and a cinch to assemble! We hung them all over in groups of three like this:

All the food fell into a “pregnancy craving” category! We offeredsomething sour, salty, crunchy, chewy and of course SWEET!! We dressed ourtable up with more yellow and white polka dot fabric and I printed labels foreach food category and even made “salty” stickers for the popcorn boxes!

Fried Pickles offered something sour

Buttered popcorn was plenty salty - yum!

Chips and dip offered a crunch

Homemade chicken salad on fresh croissants - chewy!

Cupcakes = SWEET!

To keep anyone from jumping the gun and eating a cupcakebefore the daddy-to-be and I did – not going to lie, I had nightmares ofsomeone with pink or blue icing on their lip/shirt/face and hearing “Where didthat pink icing come from”, “Why is there blue icing on your shirt?” No, Icouldn’t let that happen – so I prepared a friendly sign requesting that guestsnot eat a cupcake until after the magic moment please!

When it was time, Honey and I each grabbed a cupcake and gotready to see what kind of little bun we’re cooking! Remember the chalkboardwhere guests indicated their guess? Wellit was definitely leaning toward the pink side…

So Honey had his yellow cupcake, I had a chocolate one; we countedto thee and then took a bite!

ONE...

TWO...

THREE!!

It's BLUE!!

Waddle It Be? It’ll be a BOY! WE ARE HAVING A BABY BOY!!

Excited mama-to-be!

An Innocent Card

2012-02-10T15:13:00.000-06:00

Have you ever received a card that completely changed your life?

When the time came for Honey and I to tell our parents that they were going to be grandparents we knew two things: we had to tell them in person (my mom’s squeals are best experienced in person) and we had to do something besides just blurt it out!

Having missed my opportunity to be creative when I told Honey we were expecting, I wanted to express some kind of creativity this time around!

We found out we were expecting on October 17 and our next opportunity to see both of our families was Thanksgiving. We relished having such a fun secret to ourselves for five and a half weeks and knew the excitement would only build when we told our families!

We decided to tell them with a card:

THE FRONT: Nicole & Michael invite you to attend...

We nonchalantly handed over the envelope containing the card that was going to change our lives. They opened it…

They read it… and the squealing and hugging commenced!

IT WAS SOOO MUCH FUN!!

They're going to be grandparents... again!

Then we all got to share a big secret! Honey and I weren’t quite ready to share our news with the world but it was fun having our favorite people included in our special news! I had three cards made so that each set of parents can keep their card and Honey and I have one to put in the upcoming baby book.

…which reminds me, I probably need to get a baby book soon…

Sweet Shoppe Birthday

2012-02-09T08:21:00.000-06:00

If there are two things I love dearly they would be road trips that include my husband and our puppy dogs and strawberry cake! Having both of these favorites is certainly the sign of a pretty fabulous day!

Well, this past weekend Honey and I loaded up the dogs and took a road trip to Birmingham, Alabama for our niece’s second birthday party! My sister-in-law T is a fabulous party planner and always manages to pull off the cutest parties for her girls. Here are a few pictures of our day including the too-cute set up and our sweet nieces!

Daphne & Cash each grabbed a toy and jumped in the car

I'm not sure what Cash saw but I love that face!

The party set up

I love the lollipop ball - lollipop's stuck into a styrofoam ball! The beautiful (and delicious) cake had lollipop shaped icing on top! Chocolate covered pretzel sticks were a staple and the fruit cups in the cupcake tier made an attractive and healthy sweet snack!

Pink and green M&M's along with penguin shaped sugar cookies rounded out the treat table!

The birthday girl ready to dig in!

Me with the birthday girl and her big sis

Honey and his nieces

The girls always want time to play with Cash Dog! They love on him while he happily doles out big kisses and sweet snuggles. I missed capturing him kissing their faces but there will be many more opportunities to get a picture of that! He loves all of his little cousins!

Cash giving O a snuggle

He always has time for kisses

The girls love to pet Cash

He is so gentle with them!

Everybody had a great time - road trip, dogs, strawberry cake, nieces... what could be better?!

My Snack Indulgence (Confessional)

2012-02-08T14:08:00.000-06:00

I love eating clean - at a minimum gluten free - and this is one of my favorite indulgences: Julian's Gluten Free Buttermilk Pancakes! I have had them for breakfast, I have had them for dinner, but my favorite time to treat myself to one of these little pieces of absolute goodness is as an afternoon snack.

Julian's Gluten Free Buttermilk Pancakes, I love you!

I find these at my Kroger in the Organic section. I highly recommend these - go get 'cha some!

Love Story Link Up

2012-02-07T07:41:00.000-06:00

I love checking in on Becky’s Blog, From Mrs to Mama. She is very funny, has great posts and not to mention a beautiful baby girl! This month she is hosting a Valentine’s link up for her readers to share their love stories and I am so excited to participate! Below are the questions that Becky asked her readers to dish on… Enjoy!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Our first date was January 8, 2010 so tomorrow makes two years and one month!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

We met in High School but our first date wasn’t until 15 years later when my future-husband found me on Facebook! He asked me on a date which included flying me to meet him and be his date for an Army formal. Best. First. Date. Ever!! To commemorate our first date anniversary, I posted our romantic first date story earlier this month – you can read the whole story here:Two Years Later: First Date Review

First Date - Army Formal - January 8, 2010

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}

Yes, I married the man of my dreams on May 21, 2011! We have been married for 8 months and 2 weeks.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?

Our wedding was on the Lakeside Lawn at the Ridges Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia. It was sooo us!! We wanted a “get-away” wedding – something that was out of town but not quite a plane ride away. The resort is located on the edge of Lake Chatuge and completely surrounded by mountains. It was absolutely perfect!! If you’re interested, you can see the resort here: Ridges Resort

Our Wedding Day -

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

Our nicknames are pretty usual, Honey, Baby, Love, Babe, Sweetheart… Now we have "characters" that appear from time to time but that wasn't the question!

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

Sense of Humor – my love has a great sense of humor! He makes every situation fun! We spend a lot of time laughing together. I love that we can be anywhere but still lost in our own world. I love the way he makes me laugh!

Thoughtful Decision Maker – ok it might not be a trait that you scribble in your notebook about your dream man in middle school but this is definitely something that I fell in love with about my husband. I love that when it comes to important decisions he takes his time, weighs all the options, and then makes his decision. I love that about him!! Now when it comes to every-day-stuff, he is completely spontaneous – something else I love. It’s good balance to me because I am a total planner!

Listens to Me – my husband listens. Maybe not when football is on but that’s ok – I don’t bring up important stuff then – I know better! I love that when I need him to, he listens to me. And not just the words I am saying but he listens until he understands me. Whenever we have a disagreement about something, we talk about it. And we listen to each other. I have always found the way he listens to me very special. I love that about him!

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

Amazing. The way my husband proposed to me was amazing! He lived 4 hours away at the time and surprised me by calling on Saturday, July 31 and saying he was on his way to spend the rest of the weekend with me and take me to dinner that night. I was so excited!! We were on the way to dinner and he drove by the high school where we first met (I lived a few miles from the school) and suddenly he turned in saying he had a surprise for me there. I still suspected nothing! We parked and walked around by the football field where there was a gazebo. As we got closer I saw there were blankets spread out, with candles and rose petals all over!! And just like he said, there was a present which I opened to find a large picture frame with the words “What are you doing the rest of your life… will you spend it with me”. I turned to my honey and he was on one knee with a ring!! After saying yes, we sat down to a have some cake and champagne – all of which was in the gazebo waiting on us. (Thankfully my husband had asked his family for help – they set everything up moments before we arrived!!)

The picture frame he gave me moments before proposing!

The scene inside the gazebo - beautiful!

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

He is very romantic!! For our first Valentine’s Day, we went snow skiing in Colorado and this year I’m not sure what he has up his sleeve…

Snow Skiing - February 2010

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

I’m a little of both… on our honeymoon my husband arranged for us to have a private dinner on the beach during sunset which was amazing!! At home I am happy to get dressed up for a night out but am just as content to snuggle on the couch with a movie – it just depends on the mood!

Dinner on the beach - St Thomas, May 2011

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

The first thing I’d like to do is start a family. That is already in the works since our first baby is due in June 2012! Since we both love to travel, we’d love to take a trip with together to Greece! I also would like to go on what I refer to as a “tour of my husband’s life” – he has lived in some unique places both in the United States and out. I always tell him that someday, I want to go everywhere he has lived and see all that he experienced!!

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

My husband will actually be out of town for Valentine’s Day so we’ve been talking about some options… He’s talked about massages (pre-natal for me!), going to see Wicked… I’m not sure what he has planned yet!

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

I’m not asking for anything in particular. We are planning on taking a romantic "baby moon" in March so I think keeping it somewhat simple this year is perfect!

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Apologize quickly – even if you aren’t sure you did anything wrong, it opens the gate to discussing how you are both feeling. I believe that in all relationships the other person is more likely to hear you out after you already apologize and put it out there. This isn’t always easy but what worth doing ever is?!

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

This is a picture of the last dance at our wedding. We were getting ready to enter the world as husband and wife! Lyrics from this song are engraved on our wedding bands.

So there you have it... our "love story"! Click below to see the other love stories from Becky's followers!

And Suddenly, We're Expecting!!

2012-02-05T20:56:00.000-06:00

My husband and I thought we’d wait until after a year of marriage before trying to have children… the key word there is *thought* because as it turns out, God and Mother Nature had other plans. I still find it hard to believe that on Monday, October 17th we learned that we are going to be parents!

Even though we were going to wait a year, we heard from many couples that conceiving doesn’t always just “happen”. Based on this less-than-scientific-evidence, we decided not to worry too too too much about preventing pregnancy. [Enter Mother Nature.]

Before learning of our pregnancy I had day-dreamed, as I’m sure many wives do, of a cute and creative way to spill the news to my unsuspecting hubs, but as my life goes these days, planning and reality rarely meet.

The day I suspected I was pregnant was also the day My Honey was planning to go out of town. Thoughts of having to share this news over the phone drove me straight to the drug store where I promptly picked up a box containing three pregnancy tests. Honey and I had already planned to meet at home for lunch before he headed out of town so I knew I had one opportunity to share the potentially positive test results in person!

Since I drink water like a fish I took the test immediately and then waited the longest two minutes of my life! I’ll never forget the moment of truth – seeing the “+” sign appear in the window. I called Honey and learned he was seven minutes away, giving me another wait that felt like forever! Now you might think that I could use those seven minutes to come up with some kind of creative way to spill the news (like write the message in a sharpie across my belly, wrap the test up like a present… I mean something, right??) Instead I paced the house, looking out the window every 30 seconds, and was unable to accomplish even the simplest task – like fixing two sandwiches. The only decision I did make was that a full on ambush seemed like the best way to deliver the news.

Finally Honey got home and I somehow managed to play it cool for about 45 seconds. The next minute went a little like this:

Me: Since you are going out of town, I didn’t want to risk sharing this news over the phone…

Honey: thinks “Ok what is this going to be? She wrecked the car? Something happened at work? …”

Me: …so just to be safe I took this but I don’t know what it means <hands over pregnancy test & instructions>. Can you help me figure it out?

Honey: …what is this?...

Me: <silence>

Honey: …ok, let me see here… <looks at pregnancy test, opens instructions and begins to read> … well it looks like it says that you are … not pregnant.

Me: <silence>

Honey: … WAIT… WAIT A MINUTE <he figured it out> … I think this, no this does say, this says you are pregnant!!!

The first test was accurate. So were the other two that were in that box. We spent the next hour celebrating together!!

So get ready world – Baby Snowden is due to arrive June 19^th ish 2012!!!

First photo taken of us after we learned the news (Think I'm 10 weeks here)

Last Christmas with us us and the dogs

Last New Year's Eve as just "us" - next year we'll be a family of three!

Two Years Later: First Date Story

2012-02-02T16:37:00.000-06:00

January 8^th 2012 was the second anniversary of our first date. On one hand it’s hard to believe that so much time has passed but on the other hand it feels like we’ve just always been together. To celebrate the occasion, I thought I’d take a minute to share the story of our first date because it’s one of my favorite stories of all time!

Our first date was an Army Ball and was the first time that we had seen each other in person in 15 years. So how does THAT happen? Well…

My Honey and I met in 1995 (seventeen years ago!!) in a high school art class where we shared the same table. I was a senior on the school dance team while my future Honey was a junior on the football team. It might not surprise you that I am not shy and love to talk, so during the whole period I talked to the other three guys at my art table, my future Honey being one of them. Now he was quite shy back then so I didn’t know this at the time, but he soon developed a crush on me. Later he would tell me that he always looked forward to that class and the 50 minutes he was going to spend with me (awwwww!!!). Outside of that class, we didn’t see much of each other and soon his family moved clear across the country so our story paused there.

Mrs. S in High School

Honey in High School

Our lives continued down separate paths… he went to West Point and then on two tours of duty overseas, lived two years in Germany, and was stationed at various places stateside. I stayed close to home, finished college and started my career in Information Technology (yes, seriously), saving those vacation days for road trips and traveling around the globe every chance I had.

Honey Deployed in Afghanistan 2009

Mrs. S on safari in South Africa 2009

In 2008, 13 years after our art class days, my Honey looked me up on Facebook expecting to find me married, but to his surprise there I was – unmarried! We became friends on Facebook and this time it was my turn to have a crush. We exchanged friendly emails for a couple of years and during that time I wondered, where was that quiet, shy boy from art class? The guy emailing me on Facebook was confident, smart, funny and not to mention quite handsome!! I developed a “Facebook crush” on him almost immediately!! During this time we were both in other relationships and each of those quietly ended around the same time without either of us having a clue the other was about to be suddenly single. Almost immediately my Honey asked me on a date!

One of the first pictures Honey saw of me on Facebook

One of the first pictures I saw of Honey on Facebook (on the left)

He invited me to be his date for an Army Formal. Now he lived four hours away so the invitation including flying me to meet him and staying for the weekend. At first it sounded a bit crazy – fly to another state to go on a date with someone I haven’t seen in fifteen years and stay overnight in his home?? – but as crazy as it sounded, it felt so right. It just seemed natural even… So off I went, on January 8, 2010 I flew to meet him… and getting off the plane I saw a man so handsome I couldn’t believe he was going to be MY DATE for the weekend.

We went to his home and true to his word, Honey had arranged for me to stay in his guest room, on a separate floor from his master bedroom. He was such a gentleman! Even though we were under one roof, we were still able to treat the weekend like a “date”. I put on my fancy dress and I’ll never, ever forget that moment coming down the stairs and spotting him waiting at the bottom in his Army “Dress Blues”. My heart melted! The rest of the night was so much fun – we talked, laughed and danced the night away having so much fun together!

Our First Date Night, Jan 8, 2010

I stayed the entire weekend and could not believe that there was someone out there who was so wonderful and fun to be with! I practically flew home on a cloud. From our first date forward, Honey and I talked on the phone every single day and saw each other every other weekend … six months later he proposed and ten months after that we were married. If only we had realized that our best friend was sitting right there – right there – across the table in art class in 1995.

So there you have it, the story of our first date and how “we” suddenly came to be. Can’t you see why I love this story?! On our engagement anniversary in July I’ll post our proposal story. I must give Honey credit for what he pulled off – it was quite romantic and in fact it’s my second favorite story of all time!!

On our second date weekend, January 2010

Ski Trip to Colorado February 2010

Valentine's weekend, February 2010

Our Children Have Tails

2012-02-01T12:58:00.000-06:00

Yes we are one of those families… the kind that have dogs for “children”. The dogs came to the marriage with me and my husband has fallen hopelessly in love with them as well.

Daphne Doodle is turning 13 years old this April. She’s a petite little dog who does things her way. She is very particular! Cash Dog is only three and the most loving 75-pound puppy dog I have ever known. They are really good for each other and they make my day every single day!

While I can go on and on for days about their personalities and their antics that keep my honey and I laughing on a regular basis, I’ll spare you. Instead I'll share a few of my favorite pictures of our precious pups!

Daphne and I back when she was competing

Baby Cash on his first boat ride

Daphne and Cash, Christmas 2011, at my parents house

Daphne Doodle enjoying the pool at the beach house

Cash Dog ready to play ball on the beach, St George Island

Cash (right) with his brother Truman (left)

Daphne, doing what her retirement has earned her

Cash thinking about being Bat Man for Halloween...

Daphne and Cash dressed for the Fourth of July

Awww, I love this one!! My Honey getting a snuggle from Cash

Cash loved playing ball on the beach with is cousin, Lil D

Cash was so sweet and played so patiently


The whole dog family, L to R: Daphne, Cash, Truman & Cody

Cash Dog

Our family, Christmas 2011

We love these two dogs so much and have fun taking them with us wherever we go! I'm sure you'll see more of them in this blog... until then

Sleepy Town Manhunt

2012-01-31T15:37:00.001-06:00

“Four men, armed and dangerous, on the loose”… sounds like the opening credit to a Chuck Norris movie right? Right! Except it was also the headline Mr. S read to me last night. And guess where this little thriller was taking place? OUR STREET!! (Well the road our street is off of, which makes it our street’s street.)

Our Town (photo licensed by Bob Jagendor)

First off let me set the stage, we live in a military town. You cannot go to the store without seeing someone in uniform. Someone who knows how to use serious weapons. Someone who has stared death in the face. Someone who lived to tell about it… if only military people “told about it”. (From what I can tell in my short military experience so far, they don’t do too much tellin’ of tales.) So that’s the kind of town we’re talking about. A place where you can feel pretty darn safe.

Well, four men decided to drive their red Ford Focus to an auto parts store and rob it. Now I’m not too sure why they decided to rob an auto parts store but perhaps these Ford Focus drivers know something about cars and their parts that I don’t. During the robbery they injured two employees and then drove their Ford Focus off with the police in hot pursuit. They jumped on the highway and headed south (towards MY exit). Now I have no criminal experience but these Ford Focus drivers-turned-armed-robbers did something I don’t understand: they pulled over, jumped out of their car and continued their escape on foot while firing their guns at the policemen who were chasing them. (God bless those policemen!)

The police caught one man but the other three are at large. Armed. And Dangerous. And somewhere near my street’s street.

Spring Creek, in our back yard

Now, our house backs up to a Ol’ Man Kennedy’s farm, a beautiful piece of land with a lovely creek dividing our property from his. We learned that these criminals are probably following along some kind of landmark such as our creek. Yes, the one behind our yard that also goes right under our street’s street, where the criminals are currently at large!

This is what I learned around 7 pm at night. In the south when it gets dark at 4:30…

My husband does know his way around a gun so he took some pleasure in getting our arsenal out and making sure we were locked and loaded. I even got my trusty revolver out and confirmed I was ready should those Ford Focus drivers come our way.

Proof we have weapons!

We told the dogs to be extra watchful after which they rolled on their backs for their nightly belly rub and off to bed we all went. The night was uneventful and if those Ford Focus drivers are still hanging around these parts then they are idiots. I am sure they are long gone now.

Not much can shake up your comfort in your sleepy military town like “four men, armed and dangerous, on the loose” on your street’s street heading toward the creek in your very yard... but that sure did.

Army Football Wreath

2012-01-26T11:24:00.005-06:00

If there’s one thing my husband and I agree on, it’s college football season, but not for the same reasons. We do have a room in our house dedicated to manly activities such as yelling at the TV, drinking beer, and letting crumbs fall on the couch. (I am a big believer in the “man-cave” for all of these reasons!)

But I love college football season because we usually have a fire going in the fireplace, I can snuggle up with a good book uninterrupted, we have an excuse to have friends over to share snacks and dip, and it is just part of fall in the south.

In the Snowden House we support the SEC – the Georgia Bulldogs and Mississippi Bulldogs to be exact – but because my husband is a graduate of Westpoint and an officer in the US Army, we also chant GO ARMY BEAT NAVY on a pretty regular basis!

To show my support and have an opportunity to flex my tiny crafty muscle, I decided this year to create a GO ARMY Football wreath to decorate our home. I got the idea from my friend Brett who is constantly posting her creative ideas on her blog Charmed Life (check her out – she is quite inspiriational!). It was so simple and it looks so cute in our home that I have not taken it down even though College Football season is behind us. Here is the finished product:

Here is what I used (all purchased from Hobby Lobby):

Stick Wreath
Wooden Letters
Ready-made Footballs
Black Spray Paint
Gold Acrylic Paint
Sponge
Hot Glue
Gold Ribbon

Here is how I did it:

I spray painted the letters black, two times to ensure a full covering (allowing them to dry thoroughly between coats). When they were dry, I sponge painted the gold acrylic paint over the black.

When the paint was dry I hot glued the letters and the two ready-made footballs to the wreath. Lastly I made bow for the top and then hung the wreath on a wreath hanger in our home! The wreath has moved several times but most recently it has found a home on our pantry door in the kitchen. I am pleased with how it turned out and of course, my Honey loves it as well. GO ARMY!!

Linking to "Who's Crafty" on IBlog4Me and "Hooking Up" with House of Hepworths

Finding Myself Suddenly Snowden

2012-01-25T21:56:00.003-06:00

Have you ever woken up one morning and found yourself married with a new last name? Like the Carrie Underwood song where she doesn’t even know her last name? Well that happened to me! Ok not like a Britney Spears-night-in-Vegas-that-got-out-of-control, but similar. Well actually not like that at all but the point is things changed fast and before I knew it I had a new last name as was living my life Suddenly Snowden…

My domino effect of sudden life changes happened the way it usually does… yup with L-O-V-E.

I met my husband in high school but our first date wasn’t until fifteen years later. While we may have taken our time getting to that first date – I mean we do have pretty spectacular single lives to show for it – we did not waste any time with the rest of it. Barely a year after that first date, I had a new last name (Snowden), had moved to a new state (Tennessee), was living with a man (My Honey), was an Army Wife (a thing all in itself), and was addicted to a type of exercise (CrossFit)…

I mean, my life was not to bad pre marriage, but I have to admit that never in a million years could I have imagined what was in store and the life that would unfold for me.

I decided in 2012 to start keeping a blog to keep track of our life and be able to share tid bits with friends and family no matter where life (or the Army) takes us. I hope you’ll follow along and enjoy sharing some of the adventures in my Suddenly Snowden life!