I know it's been a long time. Let's see...what happened over the past month? My birthday was Nov. 16th. I had to work on my b-day, but afterwards we went out dinner with some of my co-workers. On the 17th we went to a Casting Crowns concert. I wasn't sure how much we would like it, but we really enjoyed it. And thanks to Chris and Tish, we had great seats. Ryan's parents came that night for a week. We did some shopping, went to Duke University in Durham, played a lot of cards, baked cookies, and ate a lot. They were here over Thanksgiving. I worked so Ryan and his parents cooked. We also had friends over as well, so they helped with the cooking. We had 12 people over and it was a blast! I love having parties at our new house. We don't have place settings for 12 people, but who cares if you have to eat off paper plates on Thanksgiving! It was great to have them over. We love visitors!

The beginning of this month we went to Maryland for a weekend for the Angel Christmas party. It was so great to see everyone. This was the first year that Ryan and I got to go. And it was the first time he got to meet some of the family. We stayed at Jerri's.

We have been busy getting ready for Christmas. There has been Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, lots of cookies (almost to the point where I never want to eat a cookie again). On the 24th we are heading home to Hancock and I can't wait!

This past weekend my mom came to visit. Her plane arrived on Thursday afternoon. What I like about the Greensboro airport is you can pay $ .25 per 15 min to park, then go in the airport to wait for the people to deplane. It is so much more exciting seeing them walk down the hall and greeting them in the airport, then driving around and picking them up at the curb. We went to Ryan's school, TJ Maxx, and then out to eat at McAlister's Deli. On Friday I took her to the zoo, then that evening we headed to Bat Cave, NC. We got a cabin and a campground there. We roasted hotdogs over a fire and just relaxed. The next day we went to Chimney Rock and hiked the long/strenuous trail, which isn't too bad once you get past the first 15 minutes. It was the film site of "Last of the Mohicans" so that night we rented it and got to say "we were there!" In Chimney Rock we bummed around the stores and ate some good ole' Southern cooking. Sunday we went to church and then out to eat with people from church. One night we watched "Mean Girls". Tuesday we went out to eat and hit the mall and a few stores. I took the day off on Wednesday to take her to the airport. It was sad to say goodbye, like always.

Ryan and I had a few busy days. On Friday we had youth group. We did a "video blast" night with video games for the kids to play. It was a hit and the adults had fun too! Saturday we went to my co-worker's Katy's for dinner and to play cards, and of course play with her 5 week old baby. It sure makes me have the baby itch. :) Last night we had a potluck (or covered dish as they call it in the south) with the church. It's always great to just get together since we don't do it as often as we used to when we met on Sat. nights. Ryan and I had the day off together today. We slept in, went to Saw IV, bought a lawn mower, caught up on tv shows, and baked. I love having days off together.

Happy Halloween! We had our first Halloween in our new house. We had all the Halloween decorations on, candles lit, and actually had more than 2 trick-or-treaters. Since we've always lived in apartments together, we never got that many kids, but tonight we got a good number. We watched Charlie Brown's and Garfield's Halloween specials and snuggled on the couch.

Tomorrow my mom comes to visit!

This past week my dad came to visit. I had to work on Monday but took off an hour early to pick him up at the airport. Once I got him we went to Ryan's school so dad could see that. We then ate at a Japanese steakhouse. Lots of good food. There was a cute little boy that sat at our table that keep telling the chef, "you are a good chef and a good magician." He was really funny. On Tuesday my dad and I headed to Hanging Rock State Park in Danbury, NC. We hiked the longest and most strenuous hike at 4.2 miles. 1.2 of that being up the mountain. We got to the top to see the wonderful sight from the mountaintop and.....it was all foggy. :( At least we got some good exercise. We did see some good rocks that my dad drooled at since he wanted to climb them. We hiked down the mountain and had a nice lunch and headed home. That night Ryan grilled in the rain. We couldn't complain about the rain because we were in the worst drought in NC history. Then we watched a movie. On Wednesday I took my dad to the zoo where we had a good time. Toward the end it started pouring on us. That evening we just hung around the house and talked. On Thursday I had to head to work so Ryan took dad to the airport. We had a great time and I'm very glad he was able to come and visit. My mom is coming next weekend I am very much looking forward to that.

In the chuch bulletin, the pastor's wife put in a journal entry of her son, Greg, who passed away the end of September. I have a previous post about it if you need an update. It was one of the last entries in his journal:

"...Lord please help me to stay focused on you and give me the strength to go on. With all the crap in my life it is hard to remember the 2nd coming and that someday you will bring me home. I know I need to keep my eyes on this....WOW, how Awesome to know that one day I will have no more sadness, no more crying and no more FEARS!!!!!"

Greg now has no more sadness, crying or fears. It is a blessing knowing where he is, but there is obviously still a lot of sadness. Please continue to pray for his family, friends, and church.

Yesterday Ryan and I took the youth group to the Dixie Classic Fair. Barlow Girl, a Christian band made up of 3 sisters, was playing at the fair. The concert was really good. The boys in the youth group were pretty skeptical of the concert at first, but walked away impressed at how those girls can rock out. The youth went on some rides. Ryan and I just watched them get dizzy and queasy. There were "fireworks" which were pretty pathetic, but Josh B. and Amber Q. screamed for each one, like it was the best thing they have ever seen. We had a lot of strange looks shot our way, but hey, they were having fun. Then Josh B. and Ryan would randomly run up to food vendors and yell "turkey legs rock!". Good times. Please pray for Ryan and I and the youth group. We have been temporarily taking over, but have not made a commitment for the youth group because we don't know yet if that is what God wants us to do. Please pray for discernment in this situation so Ryan and I will know either way if we should commit, or just continue being the interim youth group leaders. Any advise or insight would be greatly appreciated.

I had a friend pass away this past week. His name is Greg, and Ryan and I knew him from church here in NC. His dad is our pastor. He died in a fire on Wednesday night. I just got back from the funeral. I've been to a few funerals, but they've all been grandparents. In a way you "expect" those, but this is someone who is my age. How can you prepare for something like that? This was the hardest funeral that I've been to. There has been a lot of tears shed from everyone. I remember at my grandma's funeral, my dad and I were at the casket together and he said, "This is normal. Going to your parent's funeral. It's expected. What's not normal is if I lost one of you." That's one of the hardest things about this. This parents, Chris and Tish. They have been through so much in thier lives. It sometimes seems like a black cloud is following them around at all times. But I have never met people so focused on God and His direction for thier lives. Each tragedy they have dealt with while focused on Christ. And they are so open about thier lives and what they've gone through. We always joke that they are our "North Carolina parents" since we don't have family here. And when we have children they are our designated "North Carolina Grandparents". They are always sending us home with food when we go to their house. It's just hard to see them suffering through another thing. Greg was going through a rough time in his life and he cut out a lot of friends during this period, so Ryan and I haven't talked to him in awhile. In a way for me that is good, because the memories I have were of the good, funny, sober Greg. But as much as he was recently going through, there is no doubt in my mind that he is in Heaven with Christ right now. He knew Christ, and followed Him, but was just in a rough patch of his walk. Greg was passionate about the teens at our church, but once he started drinking, he had to stop leading youth group. Since that time Ryan and I have been helping with the teens. We were really concerned about them because they loved Greg a lot. The last time we met with the teens we were talking about things they wanted to do. One of those was to do something for Greg in this difficult time. They did take is death hard, and it was hard to see them hurting so much. Greg wanted the teens to see the mistakes he had made in the past and how you can overcome them, but unfortunately he slipped back into that lifestyle. Ryan was a pallbearer, which was truely an honor. When Chris had asked him he said something along the lines of, "I know you and Greg weren't really good friends yet, but I would've liked you to have been." They had a slide show at the end of the funeral with pictures of Greg. There was a picture from last Christmas with me, Ryan, Greg, and his wife, Danielle. It was the only picture in that slideshow that didn't have family in it, so again, we were honored to be apart of the "family". My head hurts from crying and my eyes are tired. On Saturday we went to Chris and Tish's house to spend some time with them. That was hard because you are always concerned about "what do I say", etc. I knew we needed to go. Tish does better surrounded by people and we know it would mean a lot if we went. So we pushed our stupid selfish reasons aside and visited them. On Sunday they had the visitation. It was a closed casket due to the fire but there were pictures all over of Greg, showing of his personality. Today was the funeral, then grave site service, and then a lunch at the church. Again, it was so hard to see the family...parents, wife, siblings. I was hurting but couldn't even image what they were going through. I am grateful for my family, my heath (physical and mental), my friends, my church, my job, my house, my food, the clothes on my back. This was a good reminder of the things I have and how it can be gone in a heartbeat so don't take it for granted. I am thankful that Greg knew Christ. His life isn't over. He's probably having a party with Jesus right now, filling up the room like he always did. You will be missed, Greg, but we will see you again someday. I'll never forget your chinchilla impression.

Living Room 1

Living Room 2

Kitchen

Outside before landscaping was done and before porch was on. I realized I don't have an updated photo of the front of the house.

I'm still going to be posting house pictures. It's on my to do list for the weekend to download my pics on the computer, so they are still coming.

Things at the house are still going great. A few weeks ago we had a house warming party with people from church. We grilled out and had a ton of awesome food and good times. Everyone kept asking which room would be the baby's room. I'm not pregnant yet, people! We will be having another party the beginning of Oct. for our co-workers. We FINALLY have internet and cable. And some of our grass started growing in because it rained for the first time in a long time last weekend. I'm afraid it's going to fry today because it is supposed to be 94 degrees. At least the yard has shade part of the day.

We went to MN last weekend for Chad and Sarah's wedding. I was sick throughout part of the vacation, but we still had a good time. I got to visit the MN Zoo and see old co-workers and animals. I also got to see their new sea otters which are still in a back holding area. I also visited the Como Zoo and got to meet the marine mammal keepers, go out for a seal/sea lion training session and see a polar bear training session. Pretty cool. We also got to see a bunch of family and friends. Of course my favorite part was seeing my niece, Hailey. She is the cutest! She's such a well behaved child. And her smile is priceless. She scrunches up her little nose. We also got to see Chad and Sarah's newly remodeled house. It looks great and now it looks like a female lives there instead of 3 guys.

Work has been a bit stressful, but it is finally getting better. I have been hesitant to write about work stuff here because there is another blog that seems to find quotes from zookeeper's blogs and post them on his with a link. That just frightens me. If you're curious, just e-mail me.

Sorry it's been so long since I updated. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. We moved out of our apartment and into our new house! We closed on Aug. 23rd and that evening Ryan and I loaded the moving van with our boxes and moved the first load over. Friday we didn't move anything to the house, just packed up the rest of the apartment. On Saturday I had to work, but Ryan had about 8 friends come and help us move the rest of the stuff. It was nice to come home from work and have everything moved in and in the correct room. It's been almost 2 weeks and the only thing left to put away are knick-knacks and then hanging pictures on the wall. We are having a house warming party on Saturday with people from church, so it'll be all done by then. It has been a lot of fun getting everything situated. A lot of work, but its OUR house, which is crazy. The cats are getting used to it. Triton still freaks out a bit when he hears different noises. We got a grill and have enjoyed it for two nights so far. On Labor Day a co-worker and her husband came over for grilling. Yummy stuff. I am now on my much needed 4 day weekend. Oh, the reason I haven't updated for so long is technically we don't have internet at our house yet, but we are able to feed off of someone else's in the neighborhood until we get our cable and internet. And for some strange reason blogger doesn't work at work. Anyway, I will be posting pictures soon.

I just played volleyball for a good 2 hours in 90-95 degree heat. Some may call it crazy, however, I call it pure insanity. There was an open house/party for the opening of the new elephant barn at the zoo. Us crazy Rocky Coasters plus a crazy Sonora Deserter scarfed down a hotdog and hit the court immediately. I was only planning on staying an hour or so...two and a half hours later, I was still covered in sweat and sand on the court. I loved it!

I can't wait to move out of our apartment. I was walking in the other day, looking at this gross milk jug that holds everyone's cigarettes and loose garbage, and thought, "I don't have to deal with this apartment living anymore." I don't have to hope for a close parking spot, or smell nasty cigarette smoke when I leave my apartment, or hear neighbors upstairs, etc. Don't get me wrong, this apartment has been great and has been the nicest apartment that Ryan and I have had, which we are grateful for. However, we are getting tired of the apartment life, since we've done it for 6 years. We can't wait to move into our own house, with our own parking spots, where I don't have to worry about the neighbors below when I play Dance Dance Revolution, and where I will never have to smell cigarette smoke.

Ryan and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary on Saturday. 6 years! That's pretty impressive. I was thinking just how long that is. When you think of your years from first to sixth grade, or seventh to twelfth, that is a huge chunk of time. And that's how long we've been married. On our actual anniversary we headed to Fayetteville with Joy and Thor to visit Laura and Krista Griffin. We ate a lot of good food, played some games, went swimming, and had some good old catch up time. Then on Sunday after church Ryan and I had some time together, watching movies, packing, and just hanging out together. It was a low-key anniversary celebration, but it was perfect.

I just got back from a very relaxing day on Lake Norman which is near Charlotte. A co-worker, Katy's, family rented a BEAUTIFUL house on the lake, and Katy invited me there for the day. I arrived around 11 and left around 9. We went out on the boat, layed on floaties in the water, ate a lot of good food, and played Bag-O (where you throw the bean bag in the hole). Katy and I were the champions!

Ryan and I watched King Kong yesterday and today. I'll have to say it's one of the most absurd movies I've ever seen. I don't know if Peter Jackson was intending it to be that way. It was a struggle to get through it. When characters do things that would kill them about 500 times, it gets a little old.

I was very excited because season 2 of Beverly Hills 90210 came out on DVD and I got it. Now, you may be thinking that 90210 is just as absurd or even more so then King Kong, but you are wrong. (I'll just keep telling myself that). It was my favorite show growing up. I was obsessed you could say so it brings back lots of good memories. And I got to meet Gabrielle Carteris (Andrea) from the show which I thought was pretty cool. Growing up I had a wall covered in 90210 posters, so to meet someone that you watched weekly and covered your walls was cool.

House is looking great! I'll post pictures once I load them on the computer. We started packing up some stuff in our apartment.

I started reading Harry Potter 7 but I'm not as far as I would like. Things keep coming up which prevent me from reading. I was hoping for a big long stretch of time to just sit and read, but that hasn't happened in a week. What can I say? I'm a busy gal.

Ryan lost his luggage when he went to MN but it came in the mail yesterday. Hooray! There was some valuable (not $, but personally) stuff in there. Nothing was missing.

This past weekend I had Thurs through Sunday off. On Friday morning Ryan and I headed to the coast of North Carolina. We got to Carolina Beach around noon and laid on the beach for a few hours. It was windy which made it perfect, otherwise it would have been WAY too hot. The water felt perfect. We stopped at a few "beach stores" but didn't buy anything. Then we headed to Wilmington, NC, which is about 30 min or so from the beach we were at. I am a huge Dawson's Creek fan, so I was being a dork and wanted to see sights from the show. We saw Capeside High (actually a college) We weren't planning on going into town that afternoon, but we decided to drive through to check it out. The street next to the river was blocked off and there were vendors and stuff there so we checked that out. Apparently it was a Led Zeppelin cover band, but we didn't care about that so we walked around some more. Then we ate at Hell's Kitchen which was were Joey worked in college in Dawson's. We also saw the wall Pacey bought and painted for Joey and walked on the main boardwalk that is in the show a lot. The next morning we headed downtown again and ate at Leery's Fresh Fish (not called that anymore) and saw some more little stores and stuff that were used in the show. We took a boat over to the other side of the river and toured the USS North Carolina, a battleship used in WWII. Amazing how big it is, but I'm sure it felt super small with all those men on it. The self-guided tour brought you through a lot of the boat. It was cool to see but by the end I was really hot and tired from walking around everywhere. (wimp) Stupid me forgot my camera on this trip so I don't have pics except for on my phone. It was a cute town and I'm sure we'll be back some time because there was a lot still to see.

The progress on the house is going great. I stopped by today. I hadn't been there for about a week and a half. All of the siding is up and our shutters are up too. The sheet rock is up in the house and the ceiling was finished today. The will finish sanding the sheet rock, clean up the floor and then install our vinyl then cupboards in the kitchen. Our stone on the outside of the house should be started tomorrow. Unfortunately Ryan has the camera in MN so I couldn't take a picture today. We are trying to get pictures each time we go so we can track the progress. He'll be back next week so we'll go out then and get pictures. It looks great! I can't wait to move in!

Sleepy Willie

Me with my Abby girl

Cute, but sassy, Vixen

My pretty fox, Mystic

We did it! Ryan and I bought a house! It isn't the first one we were going to get, because we had major issues with the company and we didn't want to deal with them for 4 months while our house was being built. So, this one is it! We love it! It is located between my job and Ryan's job. It is in a nice neighborhood on a caul-de-sac. There are woods behind the house. It is two story, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms. We will be able to move in the end of August or beginning of September.

Things here are good. Nothing much is going on, which is a nice break. I've been really tired lately. Not sure why. I'm usually falling asleep at like 8:00, which is pathetic. I have three days off for the 4th of July holiday. On the 4th we are going to a Greensboro Grasshopper's baseball game. They aren't the Minnesota Twins, but I'm sure we'll still have fun. Tonight we are going to see Disterbia in the $2 theatre in town. We've been watching a ton of movies because Ryan did the Blockbuster on-line for the summer. Problem is, I fall asleep through most of them. :)

Our new house!

You will be greatly missed, Jersey Boy.

You will be greatly missed, Masha Bear.

My stress level right now is probably at an all time high. Yesterday our seal died. A co-worker and I found him about the same time. We only had him for a month and a half. It was amazing to see him progress in his training. Since he was a wild animal, he would first snap at us when eating. Eventually he learned how to take fish from us nice and calmly. We also trained him to target, which is basically touching a buoy on the end of a stick with his nose. He was doing so well with it. I remember one of the last times I fed him and I was thinking how cool it was to see how this wild animal is learning and beginning to form a relationship with me. You will be greatly misses, Jersey boy. We also have another pretty sick animal in my dept. along with issues with almost every animal we have. Not only is work stressful, but we are having major issues with the house we want to buy. Well, not the house itself but the company. And to top it off, this stress is causing some physical issues to me, which is causing me more stress. Will it ever end? I ask that question, but I know it will. Just please pray for me so I don't have a mental breakdown.

This is the house we are looking to buy. The only difference is we wouldn't get the brick accent on the front and we would get a country porch, which extends infront of the front window.

This is the floorplan of the house we are hopefully going to buy. It is in the works.

Update time...two weeks ago Ryan and I headed to Michigan. We stayed with Tech friends, Phil and Sandy, for two nights. We ate good food, played boccie ball, played cards, and played a lot of Nintendo Wii. Good times. On Friday we headed to the hotel in Auburn Hills for Joy and Thor's wedding. Friday night I hung out with the girls in Joy's hotel room. I got to see a lot of dear friends from CMU that I haven't seen for a long time. Ryan hung out with Thor and saw a band. Saturday was Joy and Thor's big day. She was beautiful of course. The wedding was flawless. The reception had good food and good company. We will be heading back to Michigan in a few weeks for Allyn and Paul's wedding. :)

It is Memorial Day weekend. The weather is wonderful. High 80's. Ryan and I have been spending some time at the pool. We also saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3. I love the south...I get to go swimming in May!

I know it's been a long time. Work is going great. I love my new job! I'm learning stuff everyday. I will start doing behaviors with the bears tomorrow, but have already learned to feed them, service their exhibit, etc. I just learned the routine for foxes last week. I am learning behaviors for the female sea lion as I go. I know most of them now. She's a lot of fun to work. And...we got a new harp seal last week! He was a rescue animal from New Jersey that couldn't be released in the wild. I got to work with him yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The four of us at work take turns. We work him about 3 days in a row, four sessions a day. Since he was a wild animal, everything is from scratch. Even hand feeding him took him a bit to get used to. We are training some basic behaviors, such as following us, going in the pool on command, and using a target pole. He follows us like a shadow when we are in his area. He loves his fish!

This weekend we are heading to Michigan for Joy and Thor's wedding! I am excited that I was able to rearrange my schedule so I could go. Ryan and I are driving up Thursday and will return home on Sunday. I'm also very excited because I get to see dear college friends that I haven't seen in over 2 years! Hooray for weddings!

This is Willie...he's always playing.

These are the sea lions I am working with.

This is one of the 3 arctic foxes I am working with.

These are the polar bears I am working with: Willie and Masha

Great news! I got a permanent, full-time job at the zoo. I will now be a Zookeeper 1 at Rocky Coast Mammals, working with Sea Lions, Polar Bears, and Arctic Foxes. I am SO excited about it. I start there on Monday. I will be back and forth between there and Puffin for this month, since Puffin still needs my help. It's amazing how God works because a few months ago I was very upset because I couldn't even interview for the position at the Pavilion because I didn't have enough bird and reptile experience. If I could have interview, I probably had a good chance at getting the job since I was already working there. However, I couldn't even interview, meaning I couldn't even be considered for the position. Then at the beginning of March a position at Rocky Coast opened so I applied and it was offered to me on Wednesday. God is good. And it's not just that it's a permanent job, but it is a permanent job in the department of the zoo that was my first choice. I'm very excited. I know I said that already, but I am. I've been waiting a long time for a permanent position. I am proud of myself. I worked hard for this.

You know when you are sleeping and you wake up and say something that makes no sense at all? It's not that you are talking in your sleep...you are awake, but just really out of it? Well, last night I apparently thought I knew what I was talking about when Ryan came to bed and I said to him "How many Puffin packages did we get? I swear I'm making sense." Then I paused a bit and thought about what I asked and added. "Nevermind. I'm not making sense." And rolled over and went back to sleep. What the crap is a Puffin package?

On Friday night Ryan, Joy, Thor and I went to the FREE Chris Daughtry concert in downtown Greensboro. It was insane. There was about 23,000 people there. It was great to see him. He's my favorite American Idol contestant. He's from here so he did a free concert. His new video "home" was filmed during the concert. It was fun except for the fact that I was standing in a tiny 1 ft by 1 ft square for about 4 hours and had a smoker right infront of us that had to light one up every 15 minutes.

I love spring! Today at work we played volleyball at lunch. It was gorgeous, sunny, and hot. After work Ryan and I picked up some food and went to a nearby park and ate dinner, then took a walk around the walking/bike path. I don't know what the temp was during the day, but at 6:30 this evening, it was 76 degrees.

Today is a big day. Today is the first day I get to wear capris and flip flops. :)

With my new schedule at work, I end up with a 4 day weekend once a month. I lucked out and my first weekend was my 4 day. Since Ryan and I actually have a whole weekend off together, we are heading down to Charlotte today. We are going to go shopping, see the production of "Holes" at the Children's Theatre, and possibly go to Discovery Place, which is an interactive museum there. We are spending the night, so we'll come back tomorrow afternoon sometime. It'll be a nice little getaway.

Peregrin Falcon

These are murres.

These are Puffins

This is an auklet.

I have started my new position at Rocky Coast Birds. I am working with a Peregrin Falcon, Horned Puffins, Parakeet Auklets and Thick-billed Murres. I completed my 4th day today and it has been going good. I'm already trained and on my own. There's not a whole lot to it. What I need to get better at is the animal observations. With approx. 80 birds in an exhibit, it'll take awhile to learn what is normal and abnormal behavior. They have colored bands to tell them apart. The birds are very personable. Some even eat right out of your hand. I'm still waiting to get pooped on.

I know, I know...it's been a long time.

Yesterday was my last day working at the Pavilion. On Friday I head to the Puffin area. I was sad to leave. I like the staff and I'll miss my animals, but I am also excited to learn about a new area of the zoo. We went out to lunch for a little going-away party and I got some really nice presents from them.

I headed home Feb. 12 to help my mom after her eye surgery. There were definate highs and lows of the trip. My mom's surgery went well. Her recovery was a pain because she had to lay face down on a special chair all day. I enjoyed taking care of her that week. I think of all the times she took special care of me, like when I was sick or after oral surgery. It was good to play "mom" for once. I also went to a free Skillet concert at MTU. I've seen them at Cornerstone a few times and liked some songs but never really got into them. Then I heard some of the new stuff on the radio before the concert and then obviously at the concert, and I REALLY liked it. I bought their new c.d. and thoroughly enjoy it. I also got to see some friends that I don't get to see very often. I was able to go out to my dad's farm and go snow shoeing. Then Josh and Amy came out and we had our "Christmas" in February and had a wonderful dinner. Bad part of my trip was my grandpa on my dad's side passed away when I was up there. Unfortunately I didn't get to see him before it happened. I was very glad I was up there for the funeral though. He had a bad heart and we've been expecting it, but that still doesn't make it any easier.

Weather this week has been wonderful. Today it was 70 in the sun. I sat outside at Starbucks and read a book. Sorry for you guys in MN who are expecting a snow storm tonight. :(

We had a "winter storm" last week. All the schools were closed and I chose not to drive to the zoo. I didn't want to chance the icy roads. And how people were talking about the driving that day, I'm glad I didn't go in.

We had a Superbowl party last night. A few people from church came over and we ate a lot and drank a lot of pop. All I have to say is, sorry, mom...da bears didn't pull it off. I was worried after that first play. :)

Next week I am heading home to Hancock for about 6 days. My mom is having eye surgery so I'm going home to help out and to entertain her. I'll have to go out and play in the snow one day when I'm home.

It's cold. I don't like being cold. I've been cold all day. After work I stopped at a gas station to get a cappuccino to warm me up and it was gross.

Things here are going well. The weather has turned winter-like. It snowed yesterday and stayed on the ground for a good part of the morning. I had to work and when I headed out to work, the roads weren't too bad, but they were pretty bad in Asheboro. A truck in front of me slid on ice, turned around 1.5 times and smacked into a gaurd rail. Luckily I was far enough behind him that I didn't get hit in the process. I was the first car to reach him, so I was going to get out and see if he needed help, but then he drove off before I could pull behind him. I guess he didn't need help. The zoo was closed because of the weather so we got out at 3 instead of 5. Work is going good. I was able to catch meerkats and a fox last week at work. We needed to trim nails and frontline the meerkats and we switched our fox grouping around. It went pretty well. It looks as if I'm moving to the puffin area of the zoo. They also have auklets and muirs (all seabirds) and then a falcon. I'm excited for a new experience, but I will miss my area that I'm in now. I'm not sure exactly when I'm moving to the different department.

Tonight Ryan and I went to his school for the drama class' final. They all had one act plays. Wow, the kids have no respect for each other. There was so much talking and moving going on during each play. Anytime someone asked them to be quiet, they would just continue to talk. If they can't even respect their peers, I know for a fact Ryan gets no respect as an authority figure. The plays were pretty bad. The kids didn't project, so you could hear a line here and there. There were 2 good ones.

Tomorrow Ryan, Joy and I are going shopping. Maybe we will find some WEDDING stuff for Joy, since her and Thor are GETTING MARRIED!

Today the weather is sunny with a high of 75. I miss my family, but I don't miss the cold and snow.

Our New Year's Eve was uneventful. I had to work the next day so I ended up falling asleep on the couch around 10:00 and then Ryan woke me up at 11:45. I do hope 2007 is better than 2006. I realize compared to most people, our year hasn't been that bad. We have food, clothing, housing, jobs, etc. However, it just seemed like bad things kept happening, and they were all crammed into one year. I did a lot of crying, held a lot of bitterness, questioned God many time...but through it all I know He is good and things are going to work out. I am so blessed to have Ryan here with me because it would've been MUCH harder without him next to my side. I love you, Ryan.