Florida

Late night and Disney!


I got to visit my old friend from college for dinner one night!


Brandon and Dad playing guitar hero!








About two weeks ago we headed to Florida. It was the annual Potter/Norris trip and this year my other Aunt and Uncle from Texas came. We came on the weekend, so we only got to spend really one day with everyone, but it was a good one. Ava who is my cousins daughter is a little over 2. She is very picky about who she likes to be with. My mom and Dad and other family that was around the whole week would try to hold her, and she didn't want it. Everything changed though when she saw Brandon!! hahaha (who couldn't blame her) She just walked up to Brandon and tried to talk to him. She let him hold her and everything.
Brandon did a lot of golfing with my Dad the couple of days he was there. While I laid at the pool the rest of the family. Which included my Aunt Cindy, Uncle Larry, Mom, Sarah, and Vicki my cousin. One day we even went to Disney. Brandon wasn't around for this, he already headed home. We went in around 3 in the afternoon, but than we stayed till 1am!! It was great to stay that late! But the park was busy because it was open late.

4th of July Continued

Patty and Dave at J'Alexanders



Nala and Millie, wanting a handout.

Brandon and I after the down pour.

Dave and Patty after the down pour.


Nala getting some birthday cake icing





Patty reading her birthday card.

So that weekend was a very busy weekend, we had a hard time keeping up with Dave and Patty!! They like to stay up late!!! So Friday we went to the lake, and then we went to dinner at Olive Garden then celebrated Patty's Birthday. We bought her a cake, and since my birthday is just around the corner they brought me my favorite Liddys Cake all the way from Ohio. Saturday was a busy day as well. Patty and I got up and went shopping and Brandon and Dave worked on the house. They cut down a couple trees in the back and much more. That night we went downtown, to watch the fireworks. We went downtown, and it started to sprinkle, little did we know that it would be a complete down pour. It was raining so hard that people were standing in the port-a-johns for cover! I wish I had my camera out for that. We wouldn't do that. That is the last place anyone should want to go. So basically what usually take 45 min for the fireworks, only took about 20 - 30 min. We got back in the car, and Patty was so wet she could ring her pants out. Then we order Pizza from one of the only places open on the 4th Papa Johns. I think we gained about 5lbs from all the food we ate that weekend. We ate very well. We went to J's my favorite place for my birthday, and then we went to Japanese steak house to celebrate their anniversary. Dave put up a ceiling fan in our bonus room, to find the right fan took forever. I think it took about 4 hours to pick one out, we went to a couple of different places. Then we got a Mirror that weekend for our dinning room. It looks great!

Center Hill Lake

For the 4th of July, Brandon's parents came to town. The Friday before we went to the lake and rented a boat. We had a lot of fun. Here is a video of what our day was like!

A little Late.....5 Years

Not the greatest picture of us, but what can you expect when you are taking it yourself.



Brandon modeling his SPF clothing. This is a polo shirt from Coolibar and the hat. The shirt kept him really cool. It was a lot cooler than cotton.



Its been a week and a half now that we celebrated our 5 year anniversary. It was on a Friday so we went out to dinner to our favorite place called J' Alexanders! Then we went to a movie. We went and saw The Proposal. It wasn't to bad, its been a while since we saw a movie let alone a romantic comedy. It was ok, I wish they would have developed the relationship more. But anyway, then on Saturday we got up and went to the Zoo. Now its not the biggest Zoo but it was ok for Nashville. We got through it in a hour and half. Brandon said at the end of the day "You know that this will be the fastest we go through a zoo from here on out. Because either we will have a kid or we go with someone that has a kid." It was really hot that day. But we did see some monkeys, they had white baby cubs that were playing, zebra's and elephants, and much more.

Coolibar - SPF Clothing

As many of you know Brandon got a chemical burn last September, so he has to be very careful when it comes to being out in the sun for the next couple of years. I found this store on line that has SPF clothing and the clothing has 50+ protection in it. The skin cancer foundation gives this company its stamp of approval. We have purchased many different items for Brandon and I wanted to share this with you all. Some of you have kids, and its very important to protect their skin when they are younger. Its hard I know when they are infants and toddlers to make sure you got them completely covered, but they have kids clothing, swimwear, hats and everything for them. I encourage you to give it a try. Also if you have husbands, fathers, or yourself is fair they have many different options for you as well. They have great beach hats for women, so you can keep the sun off your face so you don't get wrinkles. Anyway I just wanted to share this info to you.

http://www.coolibar.com

Clydesdale's & Mastiffs Oh MY

This was how they looked when we pulled up to the barn.


This is Cody the baby. He is 4.5 years old and bigger than Barney.


Three of the mastiffs playing in the yard. The two circling the one sitting are the babies they are 7 months old!


Andy the sick one.


Barney the famous one he worked for budweiser for 6 years pulling the wagon and in 4 commercials!


This is Mack, he looks like our Nala.


This is how we were greeted.

I love clydedale's they are one of my favorite animals to see. I love all the commercials that they are in. They are amazing. They are huge horses. They weigh around 2,000lbs. They are as tall as 16hands on top of each other. I don't know why they don't give a height but this is the information on line.
Yesterday my friend who lives near me told me she was going to visit one of her clients houses to see clydedales and 4 mastiffs!! I was like I would love to come sometime, so she told me to meet them there. Its only 10 min from my house. When you pull in the long concrete driveway, you know you are on the path to something amazing!
You pull up to a gate, and in front of the gate their is a sign that says beware of guard dog! Then you are greeted with 4 mastiffs! They were so cute, to some people that might scare them but to me since I have a bullmastiff. I didn't care. The owner came up to us in her gator so we piled in and she took us behind the house to her barn! There you saw them. The biggest and prettiest horses in the world (in my opinion). She has three of them. She rescues them from Budweiser. One of them named Barney has stared in 4 commercials, and he worked for them for 6 years. Then she adopted him. She has had him for 10 years. The other two were rejects from the farm. Budweiser has some very strict standards. One as he got older his front hoof turned black. They don't know why so they could not use him. His name is Coby and he is HUGE! He is a big baby. The other one is Andy and he was sick. We only got to look in on him. He has some open soars on his hoofs so the vet just came to look at him. He was rejected because he had to much white on him. This lovely family takes them in when they are done with them. They were so big, and so loving. They live to be around 28 years old. I said I need an animal like that, I hate thinking about my dogs and how they only live to be and average of 10 years old.
Then I could not believe it she had 4 mastiffs! These get to be around 240lbs, but I guess that isn't so big when you have a clydesdale. She has two puppies that are 7 months old, and they are already the size of Nala if not a little bigger. Its crazy.
Anyway enjoy the pictures. I had fun, and I hope I get to go back again.

Life with Miss Millie

Sleeping in her play pin!







Our first trip together!

Some of you know that our beloved boxer Maddie died around christmas this past year. It was very hard on us all. She will always be my first pet, so will always hold a special place in my heart. I love the boxer breed, so I knew I wanted to get another one sometime. With life the way it is right now, while I am looking for a job it couldn't be a better time for me to start working with a puppy. So even though my birthday isn't until July she is my early birthday present. Her name is Millie. Nala is a disney name from the Lion King, so I wanted another one. We thought of Belle, and Daisy but they are very commonly used, so I did some research and Minnie had a niece named Millie! So again we have a M & N! This week Brandon was out of town for work, so I had to pick her up on my own. That was an experience. I don't know how single mothers do it, they do have some help called Diapers. But still I can't imagine what its like. I had the huge task of introducing Nala to her last night. It didn't go great, but it didn't go completely bad. I think she feels I am torching her, but she did this to Maddie. Then it was time for bed, we are trying the whole crate training process! Let just say I know why we didn't do it before because it is so hard!! I think she cried the whole night except maybe and hour or so. Today she is going to the vet to get checked out. Because she didn't get any sleep last night, she is lucky that she can sleep all day.