4.8!

Started Weight Watchers last Wednesday. Lost 4.8 pounds in my first week. Woo-hoo. Long road ahead just hope I can keep it going and then keep it off.

Move-In Day at Western

I can't believe I left TWO of my girls in Cullowhee this year! WOW! What a busy day it was. We left Food Lion at 7:30. Transfer Orientation (yawn) was until 12:00, then up to Forsyth to meet Amy's adviser and rearrange her schedule. Then over to the new Real Food Diner to use some Block Meals! They've built a new dining hall and it's like being at a mall food court. Problem was they were not prepared for all the extra parents and siblings - all the stations were running low, even the ice machines were empty. Food was pretty good. Amanda and Amy are both happy there is a Starbucks on campus now - open until 2:00 am! I think Matthew was asked what year he was as many times as the girls were! We got all of their stuff moved in around 4:30 and their dad left around 5:45. I stayed on to help get the computers and cable up and running and just to spend a few last hours with my girls.

Hope you enjoy the pics. I chose the song, "Let Me Be Myself" by 3 Doors Down because I know it's time we let them be themselves. They're all grown up now!

CaringBridge / jarrettcarland / Welcome

CaringBridge / jarrettcarland / Welcome

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CaringBridge / jeremiahjarvis / guestbook

CaringBridge / jeremiahjarvis / guestbook

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Candlelight Vigil Held Tonight

Tonight, friends and family gathered at West High's football stadium in a candlelight vigil of prayer for Jordan Hodges, Jarrett Carland, and Jeremiah Jarvis. Jordan lost her life in a car accident on Sunday night. Jarrett and JJ were with her in the truck that crashed on Butler Bridge Road. Jarrett is still in critical condition with brain trauma and JJ is recovering from liver trauma. Please keep all of these families in your prayers. We are connected to them on so many levels. Most of my friends and I went to school with four of the six parents of this children; and our children attend school with the victims. There was an estimated 600-700 people at this vigil tonight.

Keith & Heather Curtin's Wedding

I didn't get to see the wedding, but I love that the pictures are on Facebook. Love this picture of Brian, Keith, Eva & Chuck at the wedding.

And this is (l to r) Natalie Curtin (Brian's wife), Brian, Eva, Keith, Heather, and Chuck.

12 of 12 for August

Happy Birthday, Luke

Sorry it took me so long to post Luke's Happy Birthday wishes. I always think he was born on his due date of August 10th. Anyway, better late than never!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LUKE!

Scrappy Bunch

This is the best family portrait ever! The kids are in Kentucky visiting Uncle Neal and took this picture at Kings Island in Cincinnati! Too cute!

I think these ducks are the ones they referred to in the fairy tales

Saturday morning we were up early, partly because we were excited about the Space place and partly because we were not adjusted to being on Central Time. Breakfast opened at 6 CT and we were there promptly at 7 ET! The museum does not open until 9 am so we had lots of time to pass even after stuffing our faces at the hotel's buffet breakfast. There was a park across the street filled with geese and ducks and fountains so we decided to take a walk.

I have never seen ducks that look like roosters. And I hate to say it, but I thought they were kind of ugly really. There were some ducks that were pretty with blue heads and blue feathers.




There were some other nice things in the park, too.

Like this cyclist

and me

and a memorial to the Constitution

and a pretty red bridge reflecting in the pond

In the land of Rockets & Space Shuttles

The Gondolier

The Wall Divider (above) and Chandelier (below) at Ketchup Restaurant

Today, Frank and I traveled to Huntsville, Alabama to visit the US Rocket & Space Museum. We took the long route through the Nantahala. It rained almost the whole way but the Ocoee was still full of whitewater rafters.

We got to our hotel and crashed - Frank had been up since about 4:30 yesterday and 24 hours without sleep was enough! We woke up starved and made our way through the internet and phone book to discover a restaurant called, "Ketchup."

Its menu intrigued us with its specialty dishes like macaroni and cheese with dungeoness crab and white truffles and not your mama's meatloaf. When we got there we decided to split two appetizers and the entree of mac and cheese. We skipped the meatloaf in favor of the kobe beef, pork with tartar slaw, and ahi tuna with wasabit mayo sliders and a side of garlic and parmesan fries. The joint lives up to it's name with red painted bottles hanging like chandeliers from the ceiling and plugged into beams as room dividers. All of their menu items come with a tray of five specialty ketchups: ranch, chipotle, real tomato base, apple, and .... oh, shoot, I can't remember the other one. Maybe it will come to me later. Anyway, they were all delicious, though the apple was the least flavorful. We were stuffed to the gills - glad we shared or I probably wouldn't be able to type or even walk by now!

After we ate, we walked around a bit. The restaurant was in an open air type mall surrounded by water. There were gondolas with gondoliers paddling guests below and around us as well as paddle boat rentals. We were about 10 minutes late getting to the paddle boats. We thought that would be a great way to exercise all that ketchup off!

Since we missed the boats, we decided to find the rocket place we plan to visit tomorrow. It wasn't hard to find, considering it is marked by a 500 foot replica of the Saturn V rocket. It's quite literally the center of attention here in Huntsville. It looked wonderful all lit up at night, too. It just whet our appetite for tomorrow. Looks like it will be an all day event!

Will post some pics in the morning. Getting too sleepy to type straight :)