Photo catch up...

"Seniors" (first day of school - 2008) Addi, Wesley, and I went to Shoney's
Addison & Chloe (the baby!)
Joey helps Alex with homework...
Dinkins Family Reunion 8/23/08
Daddy and little brother showing off their muscles -- You better watch it, Uncle Mickey!
Hilary's Wedding - Hilary looks like a princess! with my handsome son
My sharp-dressed man!
Joey and Abigail - she' s growing up so fast and in the 9th grade this year! Wow, High School!
First day of Addison's Senior Year - Our Shoney's tradition for the first day of school...

Rafting at Youth Conference - July 2008 (Mercy!)
The LoveBirds!
Mommy + Erika Lindsay = SILLY! :)
The Twilight craze -- How fun!!!
This man is the love of my life and is my prince charming,
my knight in shining armor, my best friend, my soulmate.
Sweethearts we will forever be...

Happy Birthday, Tiawanna!

My dear sister celebrated her "thirty-nine and holding tight" birthday last week on the 21st. We celebrated with her at the House of Pizza and Mom made Tiawanna's favorite birthday cake - a caramel cake that was so good!!! Thanks, Mom! She is not only my sister but my dearest girlfriend. She has been there for me through all my ups and downs in my "39+" years of life. In every step and milestone of entire existence she has been by my side and I can never repay her for all she's done for me. She is amazing and I love her so much. Hope this will be your best year yet, Tiawanna, I love you!
Some of our favorite memories of us together include our trips we've taken together to Cancun and then the trip to Costa Rica. It's great we can laugh about me not knowing where our travel documents were and not knowing if we could exit the country when we were in Costa Rica -- sorry I've been the scatter-brain one! Ha! We've had some really fun times and I'm so thankful for you, even when you "mother" me. Ha! Ha! I remember, too, being so proud to tell people you were my sister when we worked the Parade of Homes at Lake Carolina that year - you always looked so beautiful at work! I am thankful for all the lessons you taught me and for the patience you've always had with me when I'd forget something or make big mistakes...your heart is always in the right place. You inherited our parents' greatest traits - you are such a giving person. Have a fantastic year and may all your wishes come true!

August is flying by fast!

Wow - can you believe it's past mid-August already?! Where does time go so quickly? The days seem shorter everyday and my list of things to do is not following the example - it gets longer by the hour. I feel really behind with my blog and my journaling so I just thought I'd do a little recap of this month's happenings.

First and foremost - married life is wonderful. Joseph is such a wonderful husband and is so good to me and all the kids. I've known this for a couple years but I wondered what it'd be like once we married and were living together and let me just say that things could not be better. It so awesome to come home and things are done around the house (even my laundry!) and dinner done when he's off. He is a wonderful husband and I love him so much!!!

I am back to my previous job at the hospital in the Women's Center and working 3 12-hour shifts a week and I LOVE IT! I'd really missed patient care and being on the floor working and I feel like I've "gone back home" at work. I'm very grateful for the opportunites I've had at work and to be back at my old job!

Joey got a new shed / garage that he'd been wanting for his "man stuff" -- all his hunting and fishing stuff and all the tools and stuff that men collect and it's a great addition to the back yard. (Wonder why they don't make these sheds for our "women stuff" - all the scrapbooking and sewing and crafty stuff we like to do? Hmmm...)

Stake Conference was really awesome this past weekend and the talks were really inspiring. I loved them all but my favorites had to be Pres. Woodrow's and Pres. Holt's talks. One thing that really stood out was "the gospel of Jesus Christ leaves no room for social convenience...Where the gospel's concerned you're either 'in' or 'out'..." This made me think about how people search and search for a church where they can do as they please and want the religion to be built around their circumstances but it's not supposed to be that way. Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want us to come unto them and follow their example. I appreciated these two talks and it really made me want to do better and also to pay close attention to the kind of example I set in front of my family and peers.

Erika and Jack celebrated their FIRST ANNIVERSARY today! Happy Anniversary, kids!!! I love you both so much! Hope your weekend and your date tonight were perfect!

Ethan moved into his house in Florence Friday and it was a happy/sad time for me. Addison and I went down with him along with Blake's mom to help them get moved in and set up. It's a cute house they're renting and even had some friends come by with balloons and a cake to welcome them into their new home. I was so tired when Addi and I left which may have been a good thing to help me keep from crying so. My I sure miss him being around. The summer passed oh so quickly and before we knew it is was time for him to leave. He'll be starting classes Wednesday and I wish you all the best in school this year, Eeskee! I love you, son, more than you can ever imagine.

Addison also started school today and I absolutely cannot believe my baby girl is a senior! Talking about wanting to cry all morning but I've been at the brink of tears. We have a tradition that we go out to breakfast on the first morning of school and on the last day so this morning at 6:45 Addison and I went to Shoney's and Wesley met us there. It was fun and the company was great and I was very proud of myself that I didn't cry - at least not until she dropped me off at the house as she headed on to school. I am so proud of you, too, Addison -- you are a wonderful young woman with so much ambition and I know you'll do well in school this year. My wish is that you enjoy all the good things about your senior year and treasure the memories. Enjoy this time with your friends and make new ones because things really change after high school -- make the most of it and do your very best!

Well, I'll close here for tonight and get to bed so I can finish reading the second book in the Twilight series. Erika's been so anxious for me to finish reading them and I LOVE this series! I've not had time to read much lately but this one's ending really well and I'm excited to begin the third one. (Erika would not let me open the fourth book when they were here visiting for fear I'd look at the last chapter -- she probably knows me pretty well! Ha!)

P.S. Tried to add photos but kept getting an "internal error" message. I'll try again later to upload pictures. Have a wonderful week!

"Saturday Daylight Date" Tradition

Oh how I love my husband! He is so sweet and so good to me! We've had a "Saturday Daylight Date" tradition for a little while and I was SO THRILLED that it has carried into our married life thanks to my dear sweetheart and his romantic self! You see, he works swing shifts and the way the schedule is he works 2 weekends straight and then off 2 weekends straight. Since his weekends off are filled with family things with all the kids and doing things they enjoy doing Joey decided a while back that since I generally work week days and it'd be fun to have a weekend date sometimes alone that the weekend he is working day shift we'd reserve that Saturday for our date night. (We have lots of dates but this one is a scheduled date night out someplace.) This past Saturday was the first Saturday of daylight shift and I was thrilled that this meant just as much to Joseph as it did to me. We enjoyed a relaxing date to Olive Garden this past Saturday night and has such a great time. Even after a long drive from Virginia earlier in the day for me and a 12-hour work day for Joseph beforehand - the date was absolutely perfect. Joseph, I love you so much - you are simply amazing.

Chili's Therapy...

Laughter -- it really is the best medicine and chocolate just makes it taste a little better...

Thanks, Tiawanna, Karen, and Darla for a fun girls' night out at Chili's -- that was so fun!

EFY (Especially For Youth) 2008

Addison barely had time to unpack from Youth Conference before she and Jordan were repacking and preparing to attend EFY at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista, Virginia. They had fun having Ethan design matching "EFY GIRLS - Best in the world!" t-shirts they wore to travel there. Kristi and I took them to Charlotte where they boarded the AMTRAK train in the wee morning hours of Monday, 7/21 en route to Virginia. They had a blast traveling on the train and were greeted by the bishop's wife of the ward there who took them to her home, fed them a delicious breakfast before taking them to meet up with others traveling the rest of the way to the university. Addison and Jordan enjoyed a very fun-filled week at EFY enjoying many wonderful up-lifting seminars where they learned some awesome lessons, met lots of new friends, and had a great time. I drove up on Friday night and met up with Telene and Sandra, got some rest and picked the girls up early Saturday morning. We had such great conversation on the way home as they shared many memorable EFY moments and stories of their week. I'm so glad they had this opportunity and for the wonderful things they learned while they were there.

Youth Conference 2008

I am really excited to have had the opportunity to attend / chaperone Youth Conference this year and to be there with Addison and an awesome group of young men and women from our ward and some fabulous friends who were there chaperoning as well. The theme was "Steadfast and Immovable" and we had a wonderful time. The conference was held in the NC Mountains at Western Carolina University and it was beautiful. (Tons of steep hills -- but that was okay, we drove nearly everywhere we went!) Alona, Brenda, and Michelle were also there and it was so fun spending time with them there. The highlight of the activities to me was the White Water Rafting -- it was SO AWESOME! I was really nervous at first and nearly backed out but I'm so thrilled that I went. Alona, Addison, Jessica, DJ, and I shared a raft and yes, DJ is now my rafting hero! He was great at steering and keeping us in the right direction (well, almost every time - a couple times we had no choice but get stuck on a couple rocks which made it exciting!) Jessica said I kept saying, "Oh, mercy - Oh, mercy!" I just remember the laughter and the excitement of the ride! Alona was so in control and I learned alot from her and now I can't wait to go back. (I was so excited to tell my new husband about my first time adventure white water rafting only to have some of the young ones remind me it was only a level one -- please, guys, let me just think it was much tougher than a level one! Ha! I may not share that little bit of info with Joseph - we'll just let him think he has a really brave new wife! Ha! Ha!)

What a great time we had! I hope to get a copy of the photos they took at the site once they're posted on their website.

The seminars were wonderful, the food was good, the ride there was incredibly long but beautiful, the dances were fun, and the testimony was very spiritual. I am grateful for this opportunity to have been able to attend Youth Conference with such an amazing group of people this week.