Coincidence

Look at what I took a picture of in Las Vegas....
The reason was because my parent's dog's name is Gustav (Gus for short)....
NOT because of the hurricane...
What a coincidence...
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Prayers going out to everyone affected tonight! STAY SAFE!

Happy Happy

I just wanted to wish my hubby a

HAPPY 24TH BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

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I love you more than you know, am so happy to celebrate this birthday as the first one as your wife, have been honored to have spent the last 8 birthdays with you, and look forward to many many more!

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I'm so glad he's finally the same age as me (even though that will only last 5 months, until I turn 25 in January). We leave tomorrow for our trip to VEGAS, so that is kinda his Birthday Party Excitement. But I have some things up my sleeve to celebrate his Birthday today too! (Ben thinks of birthdays as "just another day", so I try to spoil him into realizing it IS a SPECIAL day, and ALL ABOUT HIM today, despite work and everyday life on a Thursday!) He doesn't have a clue, but this is what Ben is coming home to:

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Funfetti Cupcakes... his favorite!

Presents (he TRULY thinks I didn't get him anything.... silly boy)

P.S. the "daddy" card is from Harper... not me, no we ARE NOT expecting... haha

And the table set and ready for our fancy dinner at home

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I will have lots of pictures after hopefully making it to Vegas safely tomorrow (despite the rain and winds from Hurricane Fay), enjoying our trip until Wednesday, then spending next weekend in Atlanta for the opening Alabama football game (AL vs. Clemson... i just go with the flow, but will be cheering on AUBURN of course in their game), and make it home for Labor Day, and then maybe get back into the regular ole work and life routine!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY

(even though you never look at the Blog) and see you all when we get back!!!

New Entertainment

Well, the long drives and boring roads have finally gotten to me. As a drug rep, I drive alot, but with a territory the size of mine (all of Alabama up to Montgomery, the entire Florida panhandle, and the Mississippi coast), I drive RIDICULOUS amount of time. I already have 55,000 miles on my 1 year old company car...

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So, after not too much time, I got SOO sick of radio stations. They all play the same songs over and over again and it gets VERY old. In January, I had a sort of revelation (that's a long story), but I was moved by something and became completely unsatisfied with pop radio. This day, through tears, I happened upon 88.5, Mobile's Christian Radio Station. It was exactly what I needed, I became hooked, inspired, and satisfied ever since.

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However, this is only a Mobile radio station and it's hard to find others of its class, SO I turned to books on tape! It was been such an exciting new form of entertainment. I used to read alot, but definitely can't say I've read a book since my honeymoon when Ben and I both read The Ultimate Gift (I've been working on Twelve Extraordinary Women of the Bible since April or so, but am still on chapter 2 because I only read it when I'm at the beach, laying out, and run out of magazines to look at, which never happens).

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So, I knew Ben's mom had alot and I asked if I could borrow her books on tape. WHAT A RELIEF (thank you, thank you, ms. lejean!)!!! Look at how many books I have "read" in the past few weeks!

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1. A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks

2. True Believer by Nicholas Sparks

3. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

4. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

5. Ava's Man by Rick Bragg

6. The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks

and next week I will start (and finish)

6. Deception Point by Dan Brown

I have already read this book a couple of years ago, but it's the last one I have on loan, so I'll listen to it!

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Every one has of these books has been great and I am going to go "join" the library soon so that I can rent out some more! I highly recommend books on tape if you drive alot. It keeps me awake with intrigue (VERY important, since I STRUGGLE to stay awake in the early morning 3 hours drives I have) and exposes me to books I would never have the time to actually read and now get to enjoy them!

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(new post below)

Dreaded Court

Well, Today was the day I had been dreading for the past 2 months. (Read here for the back story to my tickets and reason for going to court).

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Wednesday morning I drove to the Bay Minette Court House and arrived in the pouring rain at 8:15 for my 8:30 court time. There was a horribly long line getting into the courthouse and through the metal detectors, so I was worried about being late. By the time I reached the court room and checked in, the room was filling up. I waited and waited (quite nervous and scared) on the bench for over an HOUR. Around 9:30, the door opened, to what I expected to be the Judge, but ended up being a much scarier scene. A line of prisoners, shackled and handcuffed, connected by chains, in jumpsuits, lined by policemen, entered the courtroom... MY HEART STOPPED BEATING! I thought I was being approached by murderers or something! SCARY!

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About 10 minutes later, the Judge entered, read us our rights, explained the process, AND informed us that this was strictly TRAFFIC COURT (thank goodness, they were probably in jail for DUIs rather than murder). So, after I watched about 10 people plead guilty (2 of which were sentenced to jail time, right there in front of me), myself and another lady were called up the the judge together to ask for driving school (she was there for the same thing, but she was going 95mph, against my 75mph).

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It was as simple as this...

The Judge: "Mrs. Kennemer, what's your driving record?"

Me: "This was the first time I have ever been pulled over, AND..." (I didn't get to finish pleading my case)

Judge: "Perfect, that's what I like to hear. You will sign up for driving school, pay the court costs, and your record will be cleared, no fines, and no points against you, all charges dropped!"

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So, $158.50 in court costs later, I'm signed up for driving school in September, and will finally have all this behind me.

It was a scary experience being surrounded by "criminals" and going to court (I know, I'm such a baby), so I hope to never be back there!

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(new post below)

Beach Beach Beach

The summer will be over 'soon', so I definitely can't get enough of being at the beach!!! Natalie already posted alot about the weekend, but I just wanted to add a few of my pictures! We had a wonderful time with all the Spooner Family: Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle Mike, Justin, Summer, Blake, Derek and Crystal! Maybe we can make it a yearly trip to all reunite at the beach!

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Harper sneaking into the pool Bennett eating Ben's sunglasses
Blake blowing kisses and clapping at lunch at Tacky Jacks
B man in heaven... alone on the beach
eating handfuls of sand

Mr. Smiley

just LOOK at that smile!!! Lately, it's been making me melt (gah I sound like a new mom does for her human baby)... but this IS my baby!

The last few weeks, Ben and I have felt like we were neglecting Harper. Not really neglect, but just not spending as much QUALITY time with him as we had before.... Our Excuses: Ben has been working late nearly every day, I have migraines some afternoons, it's SO hot outside, and many days we have come home to a yard full of destruction, so Harper gets in trouble and we don't "reward" him with playtime with us. But we miss it...

But this past weekend we had more than enough time to make up for it.... it was full of relaxation... Ben and I had "date night" Friday night... Sushi dinner and a movie! Then Saturday we watched movies and played with Harper all day! Sunday, after church and lunch, was devoted to TONS of MUCH NEEDED yard work, and Harper was with us each step of the way (eating plants/weeds, chasing the lawn mower, etc).

He is now 7 months and 2 weeks old!!! I love his sweet baby side... He is just SO cuddly... If you sit on the floor and call him over, he immediately dives head first into your lap, and lets the rest of his body snake down and curl and fit into your lap... it's really hilarious to watch... he just wags and wags and loves the scratches and attention... He could play ALL DAY LONG... I play fetch with him and I get tired WAY before he does.. He's just so much FUN! Ben messes with him all the time and gets him all riled up and running all over the house, knocking his head under the coffee table, slipping on the hardwood floors, etc etc.

As I alluded to earlier, he has been quite destructive in this puppy phase (which I hear will probably last until he's about 3!!!). We THOUGHT that we had gotten everything that he could destroy, either sprayed with Bitter Puppy Spray, Removed from the yard, or he'd already destroyed it... We have been wrong many times... We talked about how we remember Steele destroying many hoses, and we were lucky Harper hadn't done that yet... it was just a matter of time... Our great rolled hose now has multiple holes in it (patched with duct tape), and then the entire sprayer ripped completely off the hose (like a knife cut it). SO, we bought a new (cheaper) hose and sprayer... we had previously stacked all of our white plastic lawn chairs up (like 5 of them tall... which is pretty tall) so that Harper would quit dragging each one out in the middle of the yard and chew on them.... well when we got home from Lowe's, we set the bag with hose, etc atop the chairs... the next day, Lowe's bag, NEW hose (still in the packaging), and new sprayer... ALL ruined all over again... I know babies are a money pit, so is this dog!!!

OH, and not to mention at my parent's beach house... he is there with us all the times we are there, and also the weekend we went to Raleigh, NC they all babysat him down there... He has: eaten the house (YES, the siding, he ATE), eaten a chunk out of a flower pot, eaten/destroyed a huge plastic water bowl (he uses his paws and splashes all the water out of it, to lay in the water, but apparently got distracted by the cool plastic and started chewing there too), broke and ate another ceramic water bowl (which had been in the family forever), dug a huge hole pushing away all the gravel so he could find a cool spot under it to lay in the sand, chewed on a wooden bench... I mean just ANYTHING (and of course none of these things are "replaceable" for us to remedy the situation to my parents... SORRY momma and daddy and a huge THANK YOU!)

Let's see; his other destructions at home, include: another plant/tree, Ben's brand new leather-ish grill cover (since he had already destroyed an old plastic-ish one), all of the socket covers on the outside of our house (little plastic boxes), all grill brushes (he puts his front paws up and pulls them off the top of the grill... yeah he's TALL), and lots of holes in the flower beds.

But like I described at the beginning, he is still SUCH a GOOD (obedient) dog and such a joy... I can't imagine anymore not having my own puppy... Ben always says how he's waited 24 years to have HIM (ben didnt grow up having ANY pets)... Harper just does all this destruction when he is home alone all day and bored!!! I mean, come on, what can we expect? Any ideas on how to keep him entertained in the backyard all day while we're at work?

Anyway, enough of that (I know if ur still reading, ur bored, but just like a baby, I'm documenting Harper's behaviors along the way too). Can't wait to enjoy this weekend at the beach again!