30 Days of Blogging: Day 13

Day 13 - a fictional book

My go-to, read a thousand times over, don’t-have-to-think-about-it books are the Harry Potter and Twilight series!

30 Days of Blogging: Day 12

Day 12 - something you are OCD about

I absolutely have to have my toothpaste smooth and squeezed evenly from the bottom of the tube. I’ve been like this since elementary school. This was such an issue that when Justin and I got married, we resorted to personal tubes because he just squeezes his all willy-nilly. It drives me crazy for someone else to use my toothpaste!

 

30 Days of Blogging: Day 11

Day 11 - a photo of you recently

Yeah, yeah, yeah…I don’t know the meaning of the word “a” and I have been bombarding you with pictures, but it’s so fun!

 

30 Days of Blogging: Day 10

Day 10 - a photo taken over 10 years ago of you

Me, Suzi, and Sami 

Me on the right

Suzi (clown), Me, and Sami (flower)

Fred Dog :)

Daddy, Mama and me

30 Days of Blogging: Day 9

Day 9 - a photo you took

A few weeks ago, I trekked out to a sunflower field not too far from my in-laws’ house and I am so happy with how these pictures turned out. Just a disclaimer—I am NOT a great photographer—I love Picnik.com and all the things I can do on there to edit my pics.

     

30 Days of Blogging: Day 8

Day 8 - a photo that makes you angry/sad

 

Folks, spay and neuter your pets! I hate seeing stray animals wander around or being locked up in cages because no one wants them! Also, strays make some of the best pets, so consider adopting rather than going out and buying the latest boutique dog. I know…I have a Great Dane, but she was from a family member. The next animal we have will definitely be from a shelter.

I have always wanted to volunteer at my local shelter and –no excuses—I just haven’t made it a priority in my life. I do cut out pet food coupons and send them to the shelter, but I’d love to spend a few hours each week loving on these furbabies who need it so desperately.

Do your part, y’all!

30 Days of Blogging: Day 7

Day 7 - a photo that makes you happy

 

Smokin’ Pig

This past weekend, we celebrated my sweet hubbs’ 28th birthday and smoked a whole hog on his new smoker. Because we he had to be up every hour through the night to add wood to the fire, we camped out in my in-laws’ camper. We had a pretty nice set-up and everyone gathered around to watch the progress.

    

My nephew Jake got a little target practice in with Justin’s .22. He gets to go hunting this year and can hardly contain his excitement.

My SIL made an awesome cake for Justin on Saturday night.

  

Jake made a small cake with the remnants, which Uncle Justin liked better than his mama’s cake, of course!

Soon after cake and homemade peach ice cream, it was time to get the hog on the grill. The guys had to play around first and totally gross me out:

Justin got a grill branding iron for Christmas with his (and coincidentally our combined) initials and made his mark:

 

He had to get up every hour on the hour from 1:30 until 7:00 a.m. That made for a fun night. I was worn out! Even Skie got in on the fun. We tied a glow stick to her collar so we could see her roaming in the dark.

While the hog was still on the grill though, my nephew Ben, my MIL and I made a raspberry coconut cake, per the request of the birthday boy himself. This was the first one I had done and it was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself!

      

Here is the hog all finished up and ready to be taken inside:

Justin and I are really blessed that our families get along well. In the earlier pictures you saw my sister holding my SIL’s daughter. We kinda all work together with kid wrangling. Here is my mama and daddy on the most awesome chair in my MIL’s living room. When I get a bigger house, one of these chair and a half’s will definitely be on my list:

 

Justin is a cook extraordinaire and got lots of cool cooking tools and this really cool mug for barbeque sauce and his sauce mop.

    

It was a great weekend and we were WORN OUT when it was all said and done. Needless to say, it will be a little while before we take on such an ambitious project again.