North Carolina Zoo and the Grahams

This weekend I had some Grahams from Canada and some from Virginia visit the house. It was great to have some family come for the holiday. We kept busy the entire time, and now I right this after everyone has left and I am trying to some laundry before heading off to work. We had a great time teasing grandma and spending time together. We had lots of wonderful food and some things that tasted great but did not look so hot. I tried this cheese ball that Talena had given mom the recipe for. It was supposed to be shaped like a snowman, but I thought it would be cute like a bunny. It ended up looking like a cross between a pig and a dog. Plus it did not help that I forgot to take it out of the freezer in time to eat it, so 90% of it was frozen for dinner.

Josh thought it would be great to jump in front of the camera when I tried to take some pictures.

The girls enjoyed having some Easter candy before Easter breakfast.

Can you tell there was a lot of Canadians in my house. This was only some of the shoes, most of the time, we were tripping over them like crazy. Someone made a comment here in NC a couple of months ago about a house they had to go to for therapy that they made them take their shoes off. They told me that the family was just being difficult. I asked where they were from. When they answered, Canada, I just laughed an informed the other therapist that it is Canadian to take your shoes off when you enter the house.

On Saturday we spent the day up in Asheboro at the North Carolina Zoo. It was great fun for all ages, except that when it warmed up, it was not as comfortable.

If you cannot read the sign, it says, "Yes they are alive." We thought it was funny.

The polar bear was completely enthralled with the garbage can.

This bear was totaled enthralled with the fish that he was eating. It was kind of nauseating to watch.

Here are some of the Grahams halfway through an exhausting day. This was waiting for the tram to take us back to the main entrance so we could go and have our picnic.

The area of the park with the elephants and rhinos was still under construction, so we got to see limited animals there.

Since we were there right before Easter, they had the animals participate in an Easter egg hunt. They filled these paper eggs with the animals favorite foods. The monkeys were hilarious when they went running after the eggs.

We had to go and find the flamingos for Christy. She just had to see the pink animals. We got out of order of visiting the animals, and boy did we get turned around. Andrew was trying to read the map and not doing a great job with it, so finally Aunt Janice had to go and ask for some help.

I never was able to get a good shot of the gorillas. We got there late in the afternoon and they were more interested in taking naps then showing off for the cameras. It was a great day, but by the end, we were all exhausted and really needed to get home and go to sleep. The park is not in a circle, so there is a lot of walking to do, almost 5 miles, up and down hills.

So Proud

I have a tulip. Some of my tulips are starting to open, I am so proud.

I also got pictures hung up in my bedrooms. The one under the photo of me is my Grandpa Graham and me and the other one will hold Grandma Graham and me. The other wall holds photos from graduation with different family members.

In the office, we set up another desk for regular paperwork and we got another and the last picture hung.

I finally get to put up my diplomas. They are now hanging in the "office" just outside the kitchen. So from top to bottom they are my ASHA Certificate (saying that I am nationally certified), my Bachelor's Diploma from FSU, and Master of Arts from UB. The gold picture is from my Uncle Kevin, he had my graduation announcement framed for me.

Another Busy Weekend

Okay, so though I had the idea to have a relaxing weekend, the weather was way too nice not to do some work.
Here are the table and chairs that I purchased for the back porch. It is a small space, but I wanted something out there so we can eat outside. With the weather getting so nice in the afternoon and evenings it was greatly needed.

Here was my crazy project. The guys at the store said that it would be easy to put together, and that there was no way that one already together would fit into the back of my Vue. The box even states that you need no tools and can be put together in minutes. Allow me to clarify, you need no tools because they supply them, but you also need extremely strong hands at times. Also the together in minutes is false, since it was completed 2 1/2 hours after being started. Another clarification, a put together one would have fit.

Here are the shrubs that we also planted. They are along the property line, seven in total.

I even planted some tulips and pansies out around the mailbox. I still do not have a green thumb, but I think that I did pretty good.

A Busy Weekend

This weekend was a very busy one for me. One Friday night, mom and I went to the Ivan Parker homecoming in Sanford, North Carolina. I really wanted to see Brian Free & Assurances. So after we drove through down pour of rain to get there and the concert begins, they announce that Brian Free & Assurance are not there. They were in Dallas the night prior and a snow storm got them stuck in Dallas. They were on their way, with three flying into Raleigh and the Bass flying into Charlotte. Never the less, they finally got to the concert at 9:30 and sang until 10:45.

Here is Ivan Parker singing one of the songs he is most known for, At the Midnight Cry.

Finally when Brian Free & Assurance got there, I could really enjoy the concert. They were still in their travel clothes, so don't mind the jeans. They sang one of my favorites songs off their new CD, Really People. They were all really good, and I could not believe how good the bass singer was, he was so tiny, but had a deep voice.

On Saturday I went up to Raleigh to see the Buffalo Sabres play against the Carolina Hurricanes. I have enjoyed going to games up there before, but this one was a little different. You would not believe the number of Buffalo fans at this game. Some were people who had moved to Carolina or to Virginia, and then some drove all the way down from Buffalo, just for the game.

Just after I stopped filming, Buffalo finally scored their first goal. The first period was not that great, Buffalo was being out skated and out shot the entire period. This was during one of their many penalty kills. The game did go into overtime, which Carolina won. It was not fun at the end of the game, because I bunch of people ended up getting in a fight right around me and I was stuck to exit the arena. I finally got out and headed home. So now, I am really tired from a busy weekend and then the time change on top of things did not help. The good thing is that nothing planned of this coming weekend and I finish my job this week as well.