Happy 1st Birthday Bug!!

WOW!!!! It's been a whole year! Today, Haleigh went to the zoo with mommy and daddy. She really enjoyed the water fountain play area for alittle while. She slept for a half an hour on the way down to Tampa. However, her mommy said she can see a tooth trying to cut thru, which explains why she's been a wee bit on the cranky side...Oh, well bug...It's your birthday, and you can cry if you want too! Love you bunches, from Gramzie and PopPop!

She's Almost One! ONE? ALREADY???

WOW!!!! It's hard to believe that Haleigh is going to be one on March 24th. Has it really been a whole year? Pop-Pop and I are going to be making her birthday cake that her mommy designed!! We were quite impressed with our daughters creativity. Haleigh will be celebrating her first birthday with a three teird SpongeBob and Bikini Bottom themed cake. We are very excited and up for the challenge.


Dan and I are looking forward to our upcoming hiking trip! YEAH!!!!! We will be going back to South Carolina too conquer Table Rock Mountain. We are not completely "ROUGHING" it, YET...
We are bring Rocky (a.k.a. our pop-up camper). The BIG test for us will be in September. We are planning our first thru hike on the Foothills Trail in South Carolina and North Carolina. I haven't decided what to call this adventure yet. Maybe the... Make You or Break You Tour? ,The Nitty Gritty Challenge, Pack it In and Out, Thunderbolt Insanity Proclamation. I'm not sure what to call it yet, but whatever we decide, Dan and I will be hiking 76 miles, start to finish, with our backpacks loaded with enough food, supplies, and whatever else Dan feels we need to "rough" it in the woods with. Dan may however be caring more than supplies on his back...like ME!!!! This sounds fun, challenging,YES I conquered the mountain, but no water, electricity, "real" food, etc... Nope, it's just Dan and I (I do like that idea, unless we both stink from not submerging ourselves in a warm bath for 8 days, without soap...YUCK!!)Anyway, it will be just us two, braving the elements (Yeah like hiker craving mosquitos, and other woodly creatures waiting for our demise). FOCUS CINDY!!!It will be Gramzie and Pop-Pop, hiking the trail, enjoying nature, chilling around the fire with fellow hiker enthusiast! Enjoying God's creation. Sounds kinda fun..RIGHT? Well Pop-pop's not going to completely strip me of modern conveniences on this trip.I will be bringing my camera. I want to get pictures of our time in the woods,capturing everything,the good, the bad, and the ugly! So, we will see. For now, we have ALOT of planning, and researching to do concerning our trip. Did you know theymake backpacks and sleeping bags, and tents that weigh only one pound? Seriously! They'll cost you your retirement fund, but yeah, who needs retirement money when you can proudly announce I CONQUERED the mountain?! Oh Lord Help Me!

Look Mom, No Hands...

Hello!!!! Haleigh bug, you are the cutest. It's hard to believe that she's almost one. Yes, one year old. WOW!!! Time has put on a turbo pack and is flying at lightning speed it seems.

Look everybody, NO HANDS. I'm WALKING...O.k. two days ago it was more like running across the room. Just a few weeks ago she looked like her legs were made out of jello as she concentrated so hard to standup and walk without falling on her backside. NOW...she's not just walking across the room, I'm pretty sure she's been watching track and field competitions, she is sprinting across the living room at full speed these days.
Luckily her buddy SpongeBob was sitting over by her toys and distracted her before she went into overdrive.

Vacation is over...ALREADY?

> Hello!!! I know it has been SO LONG since I posted. But, life has been BUSY, BUSY ,BUSY!!!! The holidays, cake making, vacationing, and of course working...Oh my! Well, here are a few pictures of what has been going on...

Here's Ms. Dorlas Chicken Foot cake.
Dan and I at the GSF Christmas Formal. Hi Honey Bun. Here's my sweetie, hard at work at my parent's house during Christmas.

This picture was taken at Devils Fork State Park in Salem, South Carolina. We had a ball exploring, and camping out with our friends. We are defintely planning on going back some day.

More hiking please...This was one of the waterfalls we decided to go see. Getting to the waterfall was fairly easy, and the views ,spectacular!! We took SOOOOO MANY pictures! I will post new ones each time and a description of what's going on. Until then, enjoy a few of our friends and our family chilling, seriously, like human popsicles ...

















O.k.,o.k., do not be fooled, this picture was not taken in South Carolina, it was in Georgia, middle Georgia actually. Just wanted to show that we indeed THAWED out...look, short sleeves...

Is This Couch Taken?

Oh, my. What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had. We went to our daughters house. And had dinner with her, Haleigh, Jared, and Jared's parents, Tim and Lori. It was a nice RELAXING time. Add that to the 10 pounds of turkey, it seemed, I ate, and you have the makings of an afternoon delight called...NAPPIE time. Snoozie Land here I come. I was not the only one bitten by the snooze bug...









Haleigh kept all of us entertained, as she explored the house. OOOH, what is that...PEPSI!!!!!






Thank You Lord for my family...



Well, Saturday, Dan and I are delivering a birthday cake for our friend. It's a SURPRISE PARTY!!!!!YEAH!!!! SO, all week, we've been preparing and baking. Today, however, we put the fondant on the first layer....YEAH, it worked. No rips. PHEEEEWWWWWW!!!!! Dan has the cake topper spinning. He figured out how to make the topper rotate using a music box thingy majig. He's SOOOOOOO savy, cool, cute, dreamy, O.k. O.k. Moving on. Anyway, other than being in cake upto our elbows, not too much is going on. I'm looking forward to the weekend. I'm eagerly anticipating how this cake is going to turn out and if she likes it. We will see...

A Little Taste...

When I look at these pictures an old hymn comes to mind..."Just one glimpse of Him in glory, will the toils of life repay. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be, when we all see Jesus, we'll sing and SHOUT the VICTORY!" Oh what a WONDERFUL time we had. Our time at the Historic Bok Tower was truly a time that the "toils" Dan and I we're dealing with that weekend, were indeed bareable. Being there, and seeing God's creativity in his creation was amazing. Looking at all the details was a much needed reminder, for me, of how God is in control and cares about every detail in our lives. It may not seem like it, but God really does have a plan. Our responsibility, my responsibility, is to TRUST and accept His will. Easier said then done, at times, but like my Granny Keenan always says, You have to take one day at a time. Thanks for that nugget of wisdom Granny.

Well, I have SO many pictures to share, I'm not sure which ones. Here are a few more of the Historic Bok Tower Gardens. And let me just add, I believe everyone should take time and bask in the beauty of God's creation, and that place is a unique and beautiful place to do just that...









Now, here's a few pictures from our camping trip, as well. The bike trails were AWESOME! However, I do believe that you would have to be declared clinicaly insane to bike some of them. We actually met two patients, I mean people who did Moonscape and the other EXTREME EXTREME trails. Yes, on a bike, of their own free will...WILLINGLY they took the lives in there own hands...CRAZY!!!!!

"Artsy-Fartsy" and other Firsts.

MEOW!!! Haleigh is dressed up in her cute little pink cat costume today. I took pictures for one of my customers who gave us money to spend on Haleigh's first Halloween. Well, Pop-Pop and I had a ball. We went to Walmart and found lots of yummy harvest vegetable babyfood, stuffed sqweeky kitty cat for nappie time, bubbles, juice, baby bottle candy and pacifer sucky thingy, and a cute little Dora T-shirt. Oh, and her new Disney Princess basket. What fun we had.








Well this week we are getting ready for our camping trip with our fantastic friends, the wild and crazy mountain biking crew, and family.. IT'S FINALLY HERE!!!YEAH!!!YIPPEEE!!!!HOORAY!!!! I'm ready, NOW to leave. There's still so much to prep and get ready for, but well worth the lack of sleep in preparing. This Saturday, Dan and I are going with two of our BFF's (Hee Hee) in the whole wide world (HAW HAW) to the Bok Tower Gardens to see the.....ORLANDO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA!!!!! A dream come true for me. A first for Dan! I'm very thankful he wants to go. It was his idea two years ago. I have the best husband in all the world!!
We are camping at the Alafia River State Park in Lithia Florida. Anyone ever heard of Lithia? Anyway, it's suppose to have the best off-road biking trails in the state. The park's land is part of an old phosphate mining plant. We will get there on Friday afternoon after the boys get out of school. Then Saturday Dan and I are going to Lake Wales, kid free, for a day of fun. I know, you must be thinking an orchestra, classical music?...UEEWWWWWW!!! Artsy Fartsy stuff, NO THANK YOU!!!! Trust me when I say, there is not one ounce of artsy fartsy in Dan,
O.K. the fartsy, yes, but the artsy, NEVER, and he's still going. Just try and picture this. You're sitting outside in God's arena, among the beautiful gardens as the backdrop adding to the overwhelming anticipation of whats to come. Excitement coarsing through every part of your body , then the curtain begins to open. The excitement intensifies and the music begins to play......THEN!!!!!!! NO words are heard, No sighs are released. Just the sound of many different people, different instruments, all tuned to the one purpose they are their for... to present this beautiful meloudious symphonic story, told and played right before you. WOW!!! Simply breathtaking!! That's what I'm looking forward too. As for Dan, well, I guess he may have the same experience, or he'll just have to let his ears get the cultural shock "Artsy-Fartsy" workout. Either way, it's going to be a day I'll not soon forget.