Frankenstorm and Trunk or Treat

So about a week and a half ago we had "Frankenstorm" Sandy aka Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy.  Guess where I was??? At a conference for work, yay! (Not!). I know I should be happy to be able to get away from the hurricane but I cannot explain it. When you are born and raised on the coast and have stayed for so many hurricanes, you don't want to leave. Ecspecially when you are the only one who is leaving because you have to WORK!

Sandy is ready for Frankenstorm Sandy ;)



So that Saturday Jake, Sandy and I headed to the lake. At least I had my babies with me, that made me feel better and the fact that I could stay at the lake house instead of a hotel room! Another plus was that I got to attend the lake neighbors' Halloween party which is always fun. So the next day I am at the conference putting packets together and working. Aaron is texting me on and off giving me weather reports because he knew it was killing me not to be home. And I'm calling my mom every two hours to see if it is flooding at their house. I got back to the lakehouse semi early Sunday afternoon so that gives the pups time to run and play with their friend "Monster."

This is Monster. How cute is he?? He is about 5 months old and the other neighbors' puppy. I would take him home in a minute....so its a good thing he is spoken for ;)

So Monday morning rolls around and Aaron is calling/texting me telling me it's starting to flood at our house. Great. Our house flooded in Hurricane Irene last year and we just got back in it this past January. Talk about the nightmares starting to come back. I was stressing all day thinking about what if it gets in the house again...and Aaron's poor parents and their rental houses. By Monday night Aaron is telling me the water is to the third step...we have five. Everyone at the conference is telling me to go home that family and home is more important. So I made my mind up that I was leaving to go home the next morning. Aaron has a truck and he can come get me.



This is the picture he sends me of the house the next morning. Thank God the water has gone down! I still go home because he kept telling me that the wind was supposed to switch to the SW (that is the wind we flood on).

By the time I got home most of the water was off the roads but still in the yards.Here are a couple pics I got.

 Aaron's grandma's house

 Our backyard

So we survived Sandy even though HWY 12 is demolished again and so is the beach road in Kitty Hawk. And all those poor people up North. A week later they are now getting snow and a Noreaster. I just feel terrible for people who are left with nothing after a storm. We are so blessed to have so little to no damage.

Okay Part 2 Trunk or Treat at Source Church! I got home Tuesday from the conference so I was talking to Aaron on Wednesday morning and decided that we should be in the church Trunk or Treat that night. I decided we were going to be duck hunters that way we could stay warm in our camo and it wouldn't take much work to make our "trunk." It have to say it was a lot of fun and I have not been to downtown Manteo on Halloween since I was a kid. It was unbelieable the amont of kids but it was a great time. We had to refill our hunting sack about 5 times with candy and I seriously think there was at least 200 kids maybe more. There was a lot of great costumes and MMOV even performed, whoop whoop. Good times!

The "trunk" of my car. Aaron's decoys came in handy since he hasn't used them in years and cardboard guns!

 Aaron was most excited about the wig and bubba teeth. Typical Man.

 Jake was our hunting dog! Sandy doesn't dig crowds or noise so she stayed home and held down the fort.

Jake Dirt ;)

I leave you with two pics I forgot to post in yesterday's BG post! We had some fun with scary decorations! Happy Friday Eve!





Howl-O-Scream Weekend

So about three weeks ago we went to a wedding in Portsmouth and then to Busch Gardens for Howl-O-Scream the next day. Before then my brother texts me and says Happy Anniversary early, I'm paying for you and Aaron to go to Busch Gardens with me and Jess. I was like NO WAY too expensive and he said "get over it, pack your shit." How AWESOME is that???? He couldn't stand me when I was little...I guess he loves me now :) Such an awesome surprise! Aaron was stoked and I was excited/scared for my life because....I am a roller coaster weenie! I haven't been to Busch Gardens since I was 16 with all my BFFs for my birthday. I think I rode on the Big Bad Wolf (which isn't there anymore) and that was all. So I am being told by Jason, Jess and Aaron that I WILL ride the coasters and I need to get over it. So I say okay fine....we'll talk more about that later ;) PS it made me feel better that Jess was scared of all the haunted houses, haha.

This is Jake in the back of Aaron's truck on to way to Grandma's house (my parents). They kept the pups for us while we stayed the night and went to BG the next day. Sandy was shoved up in the corner...she's not fond of truck or car rides.

So Saturday we are off to Portsmouth! A close family friend is getting married- they got married in a church and had their reception at the Virginia Sports Museum- how awesome is that? I've never thought of a museum being a reception site, it was definately unique. I haven't been to Portsmouth often, my parents were both raised there and they always say they could not wait to move after they graduated from high school.

This is the view from our hotel room in Portsmouth! Very pretty, but we weren't in the hotel much.

After the wedding our parents gave us a tour of the area of Craddock in Portsmouth where they grew up. I told my dad he should be a tour guide because he loves doing stuff like that. So they were in front of us in the truck with my Dad's cell on speaker phone and we were behind them in Jessica's car with Jason's phone on speaker phone. It was funny like we were on an actual tour. It was neat to see where they lived, their schools, churchs and to hear for the 100th time (ha daddy I love you :)) how my dad and his friends would get into trouble where. So we went on the the reception afterwards. had good times, good food and good drinks.

Pic from the Wedding!



Called it a night semi-early because Jason had us on a tight schedule of leaving for BG by 9am so we could be there when they opened. Of course Bojangles was first on the agenda.

This is the first view of inside of Busch Gardens I see and I look at my family and say oh HELL no. I'm not riding that no way, no how, ain't going to happen!

So we get into Busch Gardens and Jason and Jessica are practically running to Apollo's Chariot (roller coaster) and I'm like hello can we just slow down. I said we will be here for like 10 HOURS we have plenty of time to cruise the park. Before I know it I'm strapped in the roller coaster and going up the track and up and up and UP. I kept saying I"M NOT READY!!!! And then the first drop....it was big, I"m not going to lie. And I'm going to say something that I don't like saying...Aaron was right (don't tell him I  said that!)...he told me to keep my eyes open and it wouldn't be as bad. He was right, it wasn't as bad and it made it more fun to see everything. The ride was over in what seemed like 5 seconds and Jason said let's ride again before the lines get long. Ok we ride again and I get off my head is spinning and I feel like I'm going to throw up! So then we run over to Alpengist (another coaster) because I said that was the only one I liked  when I was younger. It wasn't terrible, hanging from the track made the drops not seem as bad but OMGosh the head shaking. It was not smooth at all, so after that ride I said OKAY I need a break! I'm such a weenie, lol. The last roller coaster we all rode together was Lotness Monster. I was weary but it was actually my favorite. It's an older coaster and It goes into a tunnel which makes it fun. So after that I said NO MORE COASTERS, I"M DONE. The two new ones are Griffin and Verbolten which were temporarily closed for maintenance (makes you feel safe right?) So after awhile the two new coasters opened up. While Aaron, J and J rode those two, I went to the car and got jackets, phones, etc. You wouldn't think it would take me long to walk to the car but it did because we were on the opposite side of the park from the car. So Jason calls me when I'm almost back to meet them at Verbolten and says we're going next after the yellow car....

.

So I'm on the bridge and see the yellow car pass and I think oh they are next so I will take a picture of the next car to come through. Well sure enough it was them and if you look really hard you can see Jessica's pink shirt in the very back! I thought it was pretty awesome I got this pic, too bad its not more close up!

Also while I walked to that car I stopped by the animal exhibits and took pictures, you know me I love my animals :)

The bald eagle, the sound they make is not what you would expect...it was funny to listen to.

The Clydesdale :) They are so pretty!

And the wolves!

In line for Bumper Cars!

Show during lunch. It was kind of silly but nice to do something different.

After lunch I made the executive decision that we were going to a show called Pet Shinanigans :) I thought since they got to ride all of their roller coasters I should get to see a animal show and they had no problem with it. If they enjoyed it well I don't know... it was very kiddie but I liked it.



The mail puppy would steal her lunch whenever she read the paper

The Parrot who could do math problems, smart guy and I think he was in his 50's!

After walking around more it got close to Howl-O-Scream time so we took the skyline to kill sometime until the haunted houses were going to open.

Us on the skyline with Griffin right behind us

View from the skyline!

Yay! It was finally haunted house time!! I do not like scary movies at all, but people jumping out at me wasn't so bad. The wolves were the first to come out (people with wolf masks on), they were funny. Aaron said I'm going to keep an eye on the bushes cause that is where people will hide and right has he said that someone shook a rattling can right at him from the bushes! It could not have been more perfect timing! We did 5 of the 6 Haunted Houses, you could hear me and Jessica scream in every one of them but it was fun. Going on Sunday was definately a plus because the lines were not long to wait in at all!!

So we left the park around 9:30, talk about a long 11.5 hours. It was so fun, thank you loving brother for treating us and even driving us home! We were so tired we stayed at my parents house.

I leave you with this picture, do you see that 90 degree drop?? HELL NO. The people in the front were literally hanging at a standstill. Maybe next time I'll get on there but NO NO NO. Too much for this gal. Happy Wednesday :)

Fall Y'all

Happy Fall!! Its that time of the year again....pumpkins, mums, hoodies, windows open, soups, apples, baked goodies, festivals, fairs and most of all a trip to the mountains (we have not done in the past few years, but if we could swing it I could go every year during this season). Each year I realize how much I love this season. I am sad to say good bye to summer because I love the warm weather, beach and boat but you can still enjoy these things during the Fall as well. I thought I would update on a few things we have had going on lately. If you know us, you know we are always on the go. I was just talking to a friend this morning and telling her that I only have two free weekends between now and Christmas. How crazy is that?? I need to make a new years resolution to not book myself like crazy on the weekends next year.

So lately I've been obsessed with pumpkin spice lattes (PSLs as me and SLAW like to call them :)) and we do not have cable right now (which I'm really enjoying actually, don't tell Aaron but I might not ever reconnect it ha!) so I have been getting into some shows on netflix on nights when I don't have much going on. My current fav is Pretty Little Liars - here is your time to judge ....okay judging over...don't judge! I love this show for real, I love how A is such a mystery and I love trying to figure out who A is. If you watch it don't spoil it for me and if you don't well you will just have to read up or watch for yourself all about A. It is total high school girlie girl drama, which is so not me, but I love it. I love how the girls are always dressed up, nails and hair done. That is so not me either, but let's face it ladies we love having those rare times where we dress up for special occasions and getting ready is still fun. So anyways I'm a serious PLL fan these days and am still in the first season so don't tell me anything that happens!

I am also loving this cooler weather, yesterday was the first time in over a week I have not had the air off and the windows open. It has been so wonderful outside and I plan to open the windows back up when I get home tonight.

I also have plans to make a huge pot of soup tonight for dinner, something I love to do when the weather turns cooler. I love having a bunch left over to take to work and for Aaron to have for lunch as well. We do it up right with a grilled cheese to go with it ;) I think I'm going to make this apple turnover recipe for dessert from Shopgirl's blog that I pinned from pinterest a few months back. It is so yummy and so easy to make, this time I am cheating and using apple pie filling instead of apples ...shhh!
Lastly my current thing is Aaron and I are going to start running together. I got him running shoes a couple weeks ago so we are ready! This is new to me because I can never get him to exercise with me and he wants to start being more active so we have made our own little boot camp and are going to start ASAP. I hope we keep up with it, I have a goal to run the Gobble 5k!

Okay Picture Time!! Here is some fun times of the past month since I have posted last!

So our church, Source, has had fun and games this month. You've Been Sourced is a game where you stick the sign shown above in a member's yard....usually during the night so they do not know....try to guess who it was and then go "Source" someone else. We came home one Sunday night and had this in our front yard, we were stoked! Of course living in the boonies, we figured out it was SLAW and she was in cahoots with her and Aaron's mom to do her dirty work ;)

Of course we had to include the pups in a pic!

So we Sourced the neighbors down the road from us at their new house that they haven't moved into yet. They have a crew of dogs so we knew if we did it here we wouldn't get caught. My mom gave me a huge pack of neon straws that same day....so I thought why not add some character to the fun and put straws all in the yard. They look so cool in the dark, thanks Mom! Prices...you have been Sourced!

State Fair fun!!! My most favorite thing at the state fair is the small petting zoo. I love love love animals, I should have been in the zoology field...maybe in my next life ;) They were so fun and I love seeing their little personalities. I was feeding a camel and the goat below him was trying to eat my pants, so funny.

Aaron's new BFF, he was following us around.

Hi There!

A piggie with her babies from the livestock part of the fair. I wanted to take one home SO BAD.

We saw Matthew West and Santus Real in concert at the state fair! So awesome. I had more pics and some of Matthew West but they are taking too long to load from my phone. I love how they get stories from real people and their testimonies and turn them into songs! I highly recommend Santus Real's song The Promises- its the lead singer's story about how him and his wife found out their child was going to be born with half a heart and how people in their lives lifted them up and told them to hold on to God's promises. So awesome. Also recommend Matthew West's song Forgivness, currently my favorite. This is about a mom whose daughther was killed by a drunk driver. A couple years later the mom started visiting the guy in jail, forgave him, he was saved and she is even getting his sentenced shortened so they can tour the country together and tell their testimony to others and spread the gospel. This mom did the impossible and the guy is getting out next month.

So there is some of our Fall Fun, hope y'all are enjoying this beautiful season as well! Happy Tuesday!



Picture Catch Up

SO to the few followers I have, I'm sorry I haven't posted in what like two months?? It's been a while, we have had a busy summer. I have so much I want to blog about but I feel like I am going to just blog about our lives in the past month at random through pictures. So I hope everyone has had a GREAT summer and here is us in a nutshell in the past couple months....

So after a lot of discussion, Aaron quit is commercial fishing job and started his tractor business back up! It has been going okay and we have getting jobs from out Bffs the Tilletts as well- shout out Tillett fam, thank you :) But of course Mother Nature had other plans...to rain for 3 weeks straight. So Aaron found another commercial fishing job tile fishing on a different boat. It's nice because he is out about three days at a time and then he is back for about a week or so. So I guess technically he has two jobs and it has been working out pretty well!

My sister in law (friends at church say slaw instead, love it!)...So my slaw, Jessica, starting selling Grace Adele. It is a sister company to Scentsy and Velata. LOVE IT. Grace Adele is purses, clutches, scarfs and jewelry. SHE HAS DONE SO WELL WITH IT and hasn't even had a party- GO girl :) Visit her or shop at her shop jessicareynolds.graceadele.us :) or book a party!

This is a ring that she gave me from her company and I love it :) And it is not too pricey either!

The above five pictures are a day at my parents' house. We took the dogs and laid out by the sound to catch up on some much needed sun that has been missing with all this rain we have had lately. The bottom pic is Jessica's youngest pit, Ember aka babycake aka bad and beautiful lol. This girl is wide open, full of personality and test slaw's patience A LOT. But she is sweet. They fun this day :)

We have had a few waterspouts this summer. If you know me well, you know I love weather - hurricanes, tornadoes, waterspouts, thunderstorms, snow etc....you get. Maybe the weather channel will hire me?? ;) This picture is of the Outer Banks Pier in South Nags Head. This spout doesn't seem to bother the tourists right?? They are dedicated to their week of beach time apparently. I didn't take this, it was shared on fb.

I think this one is phenomenal!!! What an awesome picture, I didn't take this either. I think it would be a bit scary to see a waterspout while out in the boat but I guess you get a front row seat as well! We also had a waterspout in Stumpy Point. Of course I was at work and missed it... but Aaron and his mom got to see it and video it! I have been saying forever that I want to see a waterspout at home because I haven't seen one since I lived with my parents.

This would be my husband with a little dragon on his back....yeah....we were visiting a buddy from church and Aaron decided to check this guy out. I was getting a little freaked out when he got near me! I'm not much of a reptile person, except turtles- they are cute :)

If you know Aaron, you know his love for ICE CREAM (think voice...Leuitenant Dan...ICE CREAM hehe)!! We had just left a birthday party, mind you, and he still needed to have some ice cream....the largest size they have. I guess if I looked like him and had his high metabolism, I would eat like that too.

Last week was my State conference for work. Aaron's mom came with me and when I was asked who I was rooming with I said my mother in law. I got some weird looks and remarks, that were accompanied with well you are lucky to have such a good relationship with her. Yes I am, but no gals actually the word would be blessed :) I SO wish my awesome Mom and slaw could come with us as well. They couldn't get off work :( maybe next time. Anyway we stayed in Wilmington at Wrightsville beach and this was the view from our hotel room!! It rained the entire time we were there...of course...but it was nice to get away.

I won an award!!!! The Early Career award to be exact! I received the letter notifying me about a week and a half before the conference and was in total shock. I applied for it thinking why am I doing this, I am not going to get it. But I did! The people in the picture with me are State Leaders with Cooperative Extension.

We are so blessed to find a church like Source. There are so many great people that are members there, they are so welcoming, loving and just reach out to everyone. Doesn't matter your past or your present, what you are going through. They are there to help you and love you through it. I have never met such fantastic people my life. Most of the people who attend are around our age and Jason's age so that is a plus- including the Pastor! Source shout out- we love y'all!

I have become re-obsessed (word?) with the Twilight Saga. I am so obsessed with these movies, I just cannot get enough. I know I know it's a teenager thing but I just love it...don't judge ;) It would probably be even worse if these came out about ten years ago when I was still in high school. I had a movie day last week watching all the movies again, I haven't watched them in a really long time. I think the obsession stems from how in love and infatuated Edward is with Bella. I think it's the fact the I want to live vicariously through Bella....can I get Amen ladies??? We all just want our guys to be old fashioned and sweet like Edward. The perfect love story.....with some crazy supernatural stuff to go along with it. I also have a slight obsession with The Hunger Games as well :)

Cannot wait for Breaking Dawn Part two to see Bella's new vamp skills ;)

Last, but not least, my Thirty-One business! September means goodbye Summer Catalog and hello Fall Catalog!! There are 31 new things in the catalog including 18 new patterns!! Whoop whoop. Jackie and I are hosting an open house tomorrow so if you cannot join shop online! www.mythirtyone.com/staceymidgett click My Parties then click Shop Now by the Fall Open House Party!!

**September Special** That's right spend $31 and get 31% off ANYTHING in the catalog. Good deal :)

Okay I think that is all I have for now, I feel like this is information overload with picture vomit. I just wanted to catch everyone up on what we have had going on lately :) Hopefully it will not be another two months. Happy Friday and everyone enjoy the weekend- I know I will :)