Spring Break Recap

Sorry I've been MIA! I had 2 tests this week that I have been studying my little fanny off for!

I must say, it all paid off. I ended up with an 88 and a 92! :)

So, why don't we get on to what I did over spring break!?

My oldest sister, Ashlee, and my niece, Blair, loaded up the car and started on a long haul to Boca Grande, Fl. My grandfather lives down there on the water and we thought we'd go visit.

Ashlee and Blair has some Dr's appointments scheduled for the middle of the week, so we went for the weekend to spend some time with Pop!

The ride down was loooong. It always is though. It took us about 8 hours to get down there with little miss Blair having to go potty multiple times, but all we had was time!

We got to Boca Grande and ate dinner with Pop and looked at the super moon! If you didn't see it, this is what it looked like.

Then the next morning I woke up and my best friends were there! Manatees!!

There are three in this picture... but only one surfaced. I never successfully got them up to the dock. how sad. I have mentioned this in previous posts.... they were more interested in making babies than visiting with me.

This is such a typical Boca Grande Picture. 

Florida dressed man, painting in the street! Gotta love it.

After we ate breakfast and chatted, we decided we would go to the beach and look for shells!

This beach is nothing short of gorgeous.

Pop and blair looking for shells!

"Hold mama's hand"

She learned this phrase very well on this trip! There were some pretty scary stairs in Pops house for a two and a half year old. So, she would not even go close to those stairs unless she was holding her mama's hand! It was so cute watching her etch along the wall opposite the stairs until she was past them! 

Gorgeous houses down there. I took this for Ash.

We learned from pop that these 'tortoises' are endangered. They are Gopher tortoises, and Josh swears on his grave that it's the GA reptile. I'll have to look that up! But, they are endangered! Pop said there was two living right near where we went to the beach and they won't let anyone build houses on those lots! One guy started growing palm trees and irrigated it. Good way to make some money on a Tortoise lot! Sadly, one of the two tortoises had died. He was upside down :(

This guy was down the road a bit when we were leaving. They are interesting! 

These little old men were so cute! They were having a boat race in the bayou later that afternoon. Ash and I were sitting on the porch doing some homework while Blair napped and we saw them all coming out there. They had a recording that counted down and everything! Even had a fake gunshot!

pop said that this was a young osprey that has been hanging around the past couple of weeks. He was so pretty! I think he's trying to get a girlfriend!

 The second day in Boca Grande we went to the beach to play around with Blair. This particular part of the beach that we went to has mostly turned into a dog beach! It was neat seeing all the different dogs!

Blair was having a fun time! 

I call this her celebrity photo.

This child loves to swing. Thank goodness Boca Grande has a swing!

Another manatee!! And... my lame attempt to get it to come over to the dock by squirting yummy, fresh, salt free water into the bayou. No luck.

I also think that this manatee was '4-scar'. You may can tell if you click and look closer, but she has 4 scars down her back from a boat propeller. She is veerrryyy old (if it is her)! Atleast my age... I have known Pop to talk about her as long as I have been alive. Most manatees can live to be 60 or older. She always brings her babies to pop's dock to get some water, but again... too interested in wanted to have a baby I guess! I was surprised she didn't come over! She's pretty tame. Which is why she probably has those scars on her back.

After an afternoon of shopping around Boca Grande and swinging we headed back to Pop's to get ready to leave the next morning. 

Blair and Ash had their doctor's appointments in Tampa on Wednesday and my old roommate/one of my best friends just happens to live in Tampa and work on a racehorse farm.

Ash dropped me off with her and we headed to the barn!

They have about 26 horses there right now. Most of them are retired but there are a couple of 3 year olds that are about to go into training. 

This guy was huge. His name is Key Haven. He was such a sweet baby! He may be going to Colorado! Far far away! You better grow you a good fluffy coat! :)

This is Beautiful. She's forsale! She has been off the track for about a year now. I got to take her over some jumps after I took a video of Rhiana riding her.

Rhiana and Beautiful jumping

Me and Beautiful Jumping

I also got to ride another horse named Rubdown for a bit. All these horses are a completely different ride from my laid back, lazy horses. I must say, a lazy ride is a good one, but I had fun riding these guys too!

I loved getting to visit pop/ lida lee, Rhiana, Pam (Barn owner) and Rhiana's parents over the break. I got some yummy florida oranges! 

Hopefully I'll get to go back before I graduate and get a job! It's a lot of fun in Boca Grande and at the farm!

Spring Break

This is where I am right now. Boca Grande, Florida. I came down here with my sister, Ashlee, and niece Blair! 

This is my grandpa's back yard. The same grandpa that took me on the cruise in Europe back in August. You can click on the "European River Cruise" link and read all the awesome posts that Josh wrote on that trip. He's such a good writer!

Back to the backyard... it's the coolest backyard ever. Water, Boats, and Manatee. 

I LOVE Manatee! I'm going to try to get them to come up to the dock so I can get good pictures of them. They are in the middle of their mating season... so they are only interested in one thing... and that is not the fresh, sweet water coming from the water hose! 

I'm looking at two manatees right now. They're so big! They just lay out in the middle of the water, soaking up all the sun.
 I got to swim with three manatees one year when I was here. I'm pretty sure one of the baby ones used my leg as a scratching post. Then I got on it's back and it swam away really fast, bucking me off like a little pony!

Hopefully they'll get interested in the sweet hose water over then next couple days!

We went to the beach this morning with Pop to look for shells. Blair loved running down the beach!

The water is gorgeous and freezing!

I'll be back another day to post an update! We'll be here until Tuesday and then I'm going to visit my college roommate in Tampa! We're going to the barn that she works at and and I'll get to ride some horses with her!! :)

OH!! I got a new pet!!! I know y'all are thinking 'this girl can't have enough animals!'  My other sister, Linsey, is definitely going to write on here how crazy I am. First it was Opie and now this new creature! I am still trying to think up a name for her... her name when she came to our farm was/is Jenny, but I want to change it. I think I'm going to wait to see what her personality is like. She came the day I left, so I still haven't gotten to meet her yet! I can't wait to meet her. And her original name is a slight clue of what kind of animal she is! :)

GIVEAWAY!!!

The giveaway is at my sister's blog Across The Branch!

She is a fabulous blogger. She mostly writes about my little niece, Blair, but she'll teach you how to pick cotton, too!!

She also cooks, a lot! The giveaway is related to cooking... and it's awesome!

Go check it out!! :)

Horses, Cotton Candy and Josh Turner

This weekend was a good weekend!! I already warned everyone about all the fun I was going to have... and it was had!!

Minor disclaimer to this post.... I didn't take many pictures this weekend. Sad face. 

Anna and Chris arrived on Friday night and we started the weekend off with a little bit of Mexican food!

Saturday we woke up and went riding. Chris had never ridden before and he looked like a dang pro! He is a police officer, so I told him that when he gets back to Jackson that he needs to tell the squad that he can be their mounted officer! :)

Chris and Anna

I had planned on going to Blair's birthday party at lunch time, but there was a little bit of confusion and I decided that I wasn't going to be able to go. I was really, really excited about her party and I am really upset that I had to miss it. Her cake that my mom made was precious, along with the cookies my sister made! 

To see more fun stuff and pictures from her birthday, visit my other sister's blog!

After our horse ride, Josh arrived at my house from doing pig stuff and we took off for the Georgia National Fair!! First thing we did was eat. :)

Let me just go ahead and list out for you what I ate that day: 1 Gyro, 1 Frozen Banana dipped in Chocolate, 1 small Dippin' Dots (Mint Choc), 1 bag of cotton candy, and I think that's it for Saturday. That wasn't too bad!

We met Chris and Crystal (my neighbors from across the street) at the clock tower and got the game plan together. 

So, the 6 of us head out for the exhibits after we stuffed our faces with yumminess. We went through the building that has all the people selling things first. There is jewelry cleaner, candy, mattresses, purses, jewelry, these weird hair things that wrap through your ponytail, fat burners, exercise machines, and lots of publicity on vacations and what not. I got my ring cleaned and that's it! 

On the way out of the building I got a surprise! My friend and longlost roommate from Auburn had come up from Florida with her new roommates and she was walking in the door! It was so good to see her! I haven't seen her since we graduated I don't think! We visited for a few minutes and she went back outside with us. The famous hypnosis show was going on, so we sat there and watched the end of that! (At the end of this post is a special feature! :)
During the hypnosis show we lost Chris and Anna and I didn't have their phone number, so I was a hawk looking for them. We didn't find them so I prayed they'd call me if they got too bored!

After the Hypnosis show, we started towards the Art building and looked at all the photography and woodcarving. We finally found Chris and Anna! Well, they found us! They had walked into another building and called me, so they came and met up with us in the McGill building. We then proceeded to the ride section where we rode my favorite ride! The CLAW! I forgot how high that ride went!! But it's so much fun and just about the only ride that doesn't make me sick!

We rode rides until about 7:00 then we headed back towards the clock tower to meet up with my mom and sister before Josh Turner!

When we got into Josh Turner, Steel Magnolia came on first. They were pretty good, but I liked Josh Turner better! He is dreamy :) But, like I said on this picture I put on facebook... "He ain't no Josh Rab...!" I know I know... not good grammar.. but it's really between Josh and me. He always says that to me! haha
Here is the only picture I got... with my cell.

After Josh Turner was over lingered around then we headed home!

Sunday was a very relaxed day. My sister went riding with us and then we went over to Josh's barn to see the piggies! I do have some pictures from the barn, but I haven't put them on my computer yet.. so check back.
We got back to my house, gave her dogs a bath, and watched them play with lola.

Then they headed out. I loved having Chris and Anna here! It's like having to awesome roommates! haha! I'm ready for them to come back and visit! Josh and I will definitely be going to see them sometime very soon!! Like... 2 weeks for Auburn vs LSU!

Speaking of Auburn.... Undefeated!!!! I love being a true Auburn Tiger! It feels SO good!!! :)
War Eagle!!

It was a great weekend!! Now I can't wait to go back to the fair!! I'll take my camera this time!!!

*****************************************************************************************************

Did I ever tell y'all about the hypnosis show story? I don't think I did... ok here it goes! Even if I did tell it... I love telling it so I'm going to tell it anyways! :)

In October of 2007 during the fair,  I was sitting in the audience watching the hypnosis show and it was hilarious! There was one particular guy that was super funny. He just kept saying the funniest stuff! I was taking little videos of him on my phone (which you can't do anymore) and put some of them on facebook. I thought he looked about my age, but I didn't know or recognize him. I always wondered who that guy was, but didn't stick around to find out. He made me and everyone else laugh SO hard that day! Well, come to find out, on May 19, 2008 I met that handsome fellow. That was the day that I went back to work at the vet's office when I got back from school for the summer! It took me a couple weeks to figure out where I had recognized this guy from and I finally figured it out... the hypnosis show! I showed him those videos and we couldn't believe it. Now, me and my Joshua have been together ever since! :) 

Here's a few of the little video clips..... Enjoy!!!
(Josh... don't kill me please! haha)

Josh is hypnotized in ALL these videos but the last two!!
Josh is wearing green shirt/navy shorts- sitting 4th from the left in most videos.
Josh hypnotized- singing Ricky Martin

Josh after singing being asked where his microphone 'feather duster' came from.

Josh telling Tammy about his milking goat

Milking goats pooping on them... watch Josh in the middle.. haha

She proceeded to tell Josh he got goat poop in his shoe, he took his shoe off and shook it out. Then she told him his shoes were on the wrong feet so he switched them and really did put them on the wrong feet! This is the video of him waking up at the end, coming out of hypnosis and realizing his shoes are backwards! It's short... but so funny.

Before she woke them up from being hypnotized she 'programmed' them to repeat an action and phrase after she said a certain word. She then woke them up and made some 'announcements' containing all the words she used to program them with. Here is Josh doing his action and phrase after he was woken up! Then wondering why in the world he just did that! She said the word but I didn't catch it in the video. 



I hope y'all enjoyed that. It's definitely not as funny in little pieces like that... but I just couldn't believe that was Josh!! 


Hope y'all have a good week!!

Pigs, baby, and pig babies!

New baby pigs!!!

This year Josh had two litters! So you get to see lots more baby pigs! I know how everyone loved them before, so I'll show you more!

Today my niece, Blair, got to go see the piggies for the first time! I think it was kind of special since they were born just last night. They are still so tiny (and loud) that they can be picked up without any problems!  

9 healthy little babies! I hope they all make it!

I just love this picture! :)

It was so funny watching Blair look at these pigs! Ashlee would pick up one and it would start screaming for it's mama! 

Then Blair would cover up her ears because it was so loud!

"Hold on a second, why isn't that thing screaming?"

I don't know if she liked them, but she gave them a try.

After we were done looking, Blair kept 'feeding' them! She's such a big helper!

Then we went over to see the other mama pig. 

It was a successful and really hot visit to Josh's pig barn!

Did anyone happen to notice the thermometer?! Crazy hot.

By the way, the first litter is getting HUGE! 

Remember Aubie?!

If you didn't see the first litter post, then go check it out! It is amazing how fast these things grow!! They'll be two months old in two and a half weeks!