And I'm back! Bare with me, this is gonna be a long one.
Where did September go? Better yet, what has happened to most of October? Time is flying by! Here is a much overdue update from the Lassiter household....
In September Ben and I traveled to Florence to celebrate the birthday's of Daddy and Sissy. We actually took a minute to get a family photo before heading off on our "hike" in St. Florian (pronounced by us locals as St. Florine... it's a southern thing I guess). "Hiking" in the fall has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. We have pictures of Cara, Matt, and me from when we were small, climbing trees at Davey Crocket State Park up in Tennessee. We would always go there to celebrate Dad's and Cara's birthdays and it was so much fun! Some of my favorite childhood memories are of my family playing at that park catching crawdads and salamanders in the streams, looking for deer on the trails, and playing "Billy Goat's Gruff", a game mom and dad made up where dad was the troll and we were the billy goats.
Below is Benji holding Peterson, Mom and Scooter, Sissy holding Henry, Bunky, Daddy holding Berkley, and Me looking awesome. Yes. I cropped myself out like that and yes, Ben always looks like a giant in our family photos... not sure why.
Below is a picture of Little Bunky. Little Bunky really isn't little at all. His name is actually Matt. Matt is my baby brother, six years younger than me. Cara and I nicknamed him Bunky which is a mixture of the words "Brother" and "Monkey" and we call him Little Bunky to get on his nerves. He secretly loves it. During the "hiking" day I spent much of my time trying to snap photos of Matt because he didn't want to be in any pictures. He loves me!
And in other news, Ben and I, with the help of our friends Ben B., Daniel, Katie, and Alley, broke ground on the long awaited brick patio!!! Ben and I have been planning this patio since we built the house over a year ago, and it is finally happening! We are using bricks that were left over from Auburn University's concourse renovation. (If you are an Auburn person you can appreciate that.) Ben was working on the councourse project and was able to bring home the extra bricks for us to use on the patio. I like knowing I have a little piece of Auburn right in my back yard.
As you can see from the photo below, it has been quite an undertaking. Finished product pictures and project details coming soon!
Below is a more recent picture of Berkley who is now almost 6 months old! He is pictured with Ben taking a ride on the mule. More photos on the mule ride to come as well!
In case you were curious, Ben and I are still doing The Love Dare. The flower below is a product of Love Dare Day 4, a little gift from Benji to me. So far I love this book and I highly recommend it to all of you. It is not a book that you buy and give to your spouse, it is a book that you buy for yourself. In contrast to what I expected, the book has changed me and my outlook on the way marriage should be. The Love Dare puts the focus on what I can do and should do for my spouse because I have CHOSEN to love him. It is not about how you should be treated by your mate, but how you should treat him or her out of love regardless of how they treat you. (A very Biblical concept that is not exactly taught in today's culture.)
Ben and I have really enjoyed the Dish Network so far. However, we haven't quite mastered this whole DVR thing just yet. Kind of makes me feel like a grandparent learning how to text.
The photo of Daddy below looks like it should be in a pamphlet about caring for your pets or about how pets increase longevity.... uhhh... anyway...
As I mentioned before, Daddy just celebrated a birthday and he received a long awaited gift... a t.v.! Dad has never been one to spend money on himself. He has always wanted to buy everyone else everything they wanted instead of using his hard earned money to buy himself something like clothes. I'm not exaggerating. So, we were thrilled when he finally allowed us to spend some money on him for a change! I am lucky to have such a hard working dad who has
always taken such good care of me! I am glad that he now has a t.v. that isn't 20 years old.
I don't even know how to begin to explain this next part...
Cara just turned 25 on 9/25/09 at 9:25. Therefore, she has been saying that this is her "Golden Year." I told one of my friends from work that this was my sister's golden year and his reply was "You have a sister who is 50??"
Anyway, to commemorate the "Golden Year," mom and I decided to make Cara a lovely Golden tunic to wear for the weekend. We also decorated her room with all kinds of gorgeous things like gold tulle and beads. More Golden Year photos to come. Does anyone out there still think we are normal?
