A New Era in Purse Designs

I respect my husband for many reasons. One reasons is that he is always working to improve himself in many ways--his walk with the Lord, his character, how he plays the game...and most recently, the quality of his purses. Below are two purse he made this past month. The blue & green one is mine and the black & pink one was for Mary. It's neat to see his creativity emerge in dreaming up a new design coupled with his engineering mind to put the creation together.

Thanksgiving Dance Party?!

Thanksgiving with the Lowthers. It was fun! We enjoyed lots of great food...which I didn't get a picture of...but here's the pretty table with all our empty drink glasses.

Brian and me enjoying some dessert. Our first Thanksgiving!

Oh yeah, we are puzzle pros. It only took us about 30 min to complete this one.

This was interesting.
The Fam - David & Mike + Phil = Gangsta Poses & Random Dance Party
(see below video for Sally's dance lesson courtesy of Jen & Kristin)

Holy Update Batman!

Sorry to all our blog followers! It's been way too long since I've posted. Several things have happened since back in October. This post is about Ring of Fire Nationals. RoF was seeded 4th going into Nationals weekend of October 30th-November 1st. It was held in Sarasota, FL and Kara Snoke's grandma graciously gave up her condo so we could have a free place to stay.

Here are a couple pictures. I admit, I wasn't the best at taking pictures b/c I was too in to watching the games and forgot I even brought my camera most of the time! Ring did well but lost in quarter-finals. That was their goal, to at least make it to quarter-finals. Go RoF!

Ring winning against Johnny Bravo!

Brian looking upfield.

1-2-3 RING

Intersting Interview

I watched this interview of Joe Biden. Let me know what you think about it.

On a humorous note. Does anyone think that he looks like the Lion on Wizard of Oz? Look at his eyes! hehe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxT0ELP7az0

I am so thankful that God appoints our rulers over us. What a relief that no matter who our next Commander in Chief will be we know that God has appointed him to be there for the working of His majestic, sovereign plan!

Camera Features

Yes, I know it's been a while since I've posted. Well, I haven't been the best about taking pictures lately so hence the infrequent posting. I did take some pictures at Seth & Rebecca's wedding...but Becky already posted on that and used the pictures we took. Check out her blog here to see the post.

This summer we went to a Durham Bulls Game and discovered many of the fun features our camera has. Enjoy the strange, interesting pictures we took.

Rebecca was wearing a blue shirt with an Atlanta Braves hat on.

With this picture, only my green shirt shows up in a bw picture.

Just a hit a blue. The Apples, before they were married!

Whoa! Ever seen red grass and yellow dirt?!

Brian's scary red-eye!

The Crockpost Disaster :-(

A picture is worth a thousand words. Please feel free to leave your comment. (If you look at the large version of this picture you can notice the charred exterior of my Crockpot...wow I sure did a number on it!)
So here's the story:
I try to be a good wifey and have dinner ready most nights of the week. Well, Monday I was feeling extra homemaker-ish and decided to try to make bbq pork in the Crockpot. I got up early (ok, on time) and went to the kitchen. I followed the directions carefully and put the pot on low. Everything looked yummy and juicy and was already beginning to smell nice when I left for work.

I got home roughly 10 hours later. And when I walked in the door I was greeted with the aroma of cooked meat. But when I opened the Crockpot lid, much to my chagrin, the whole pork section was completely charred to a crisp. I was furious! I pulled out what I could, that didn't stick to the bottom and surveyed the damage to the pot. Black char was caked on so hard that a fork couldn't even penetrate it.

Thankfully, Dad was in town and came over and saved dinner. He graciously bought bbq and sides from Danny's BBQ. It was good and the time we got to spend with Dad was great! Thanks again Dad! The Crockpot, on the other hand, was left to soak in soapy water with the hopes I could scrub it out in a day or two.

Needless to say, the above picture illustrates that not only did the soaking work, it worked in one fell swoop! I was discouraged at first b/c when I drained out the soapy water I was met with the same thick, black, charred mess and it was still hard as a rock. I was shocked 2 days of soaking had done nothing to loosen, soften, dissolve the mass. But after a little scrubbing with a spatula the above chunk came off and cleaning was pretty much done after that! Way to go Crockpot for being "easy" to clean. It could definitely have been worse!

I must say, the charred mess looks a little like a cartoon's hair/toupee...what do you think?!

Club Sectionals

So here's a recap. I didn't get to take many pictures at sectionals because frankly I was playing my tail off. When a team only has 6 healthy girls (at least 3 having to be on the field at all times) you don't get much time to lolly-gag and take pictures. But here's a little fun we had when we first got there!

Brian Stuffed in the trunk!

This next picture is funny and I hope you can see it clearly. Inside Sion's trunk is the following emblem/pully thing. In case you happened to get stuck in the trunk and it closes, you just pull this handy glow in the dark tab and BOING! out you go.

Brian tried springing out like this cartoon figure and it was hilarious! We spent several minutes discussing what we would do if we were carjacked and stuffed in the trunk. I've heard you're supposed to kick out the taillights and stick your arms out so someone will call the police or something. Or if you're in a super-safe Volvo...you just pop the emergency trunk lever and out you spring on your way to freedom. Just hope the carjackers don't see the trunk come open in the rear view mirror...and it would probably work best if they were stopped at a stoplight or going really slow; otherwise a jump at 65 mph may not be that profitable!

Oh! And not to forget: the Sectionals Recap

Ring of Fire 3-0--number ONE and headed to Regionals
Flight 4-3--number 3 and headed to Regionals! AND we beat OLIO!!! That was definitely the highlight of the weekend. We took a nice swipe at the chip on their shoulder and served them up their only defeat of the weekend! Take that!

Hamrick Wedding

So G & Mary finally tied the knot! The wedding was beautiful by the way. It was held in the Rose Garden with the reception at the NCSU Alumni Center on Centennial Campus. Enjoy the pics!

Mary, the beautiful bride, and her dad!

My handsome husband and Mary's sister Rebecca. Loved the bow ties!Here come the adorable flower girls! They did a great job.
Notice the fan/program on the left? Great idea for the humid day!

Sally & David looking sharp!The guest favors were: Create your own bag of candy! What fun :)
Brian chose Skittles. The Bride & Groom chose Peanut M&M's and Sour Warheads (respectively)--hmm, opposites attract?!Brian and me at the reception. It was fun.

There go the Bride & Groom.
Congratulations Geoffrey & Mary Hamrick!

G$ Bachelor Party

G & Mary are getting Married! Here's a pic of the nice outfit G had to wear to his Bachelor night :)

G's Shirt says: Tough Guys Wear Pink!

The guys got to go to Outback and enjoy steak! They also played Corn Hole & Mario Cart...ahh good wholesome fun!

And here's a strange picture I took of Brian this morning when he took the clothes out of the washer. We call it our Clothes Rope! Notice the shoe at that top of the "rope"?!

Brian looks unhappy...but I got a laugh out of it. He had to untangle all the clothes wrapped around the jeans he threw in the wash :).

Raleigh Wide Open 2008

Brian and I went downtown last night. It was boring...until we found Moore Square and got to watch the last half of Transformers! That's such a good movie! Anyway, here are some pics from our excursion into the madness of downtown Raleigh at night at the new convention center.

Debbie in front of the Convention Center

Brian in front of the Convention Center
Us in in Moore Square enjoying Transformers.

Bugs in your Cupboards

Over the last few weeks we've had these little reddish/brown bugs in our kitchen and I've been so frustrated over them and grossed out by them. I bought bug spray, kitchen bug spray even, to kill the little monsters and they never seemed to go away. I was on the verge this morning of complaining to management when I decided I'd go through all the cabinets and pull everything out so that when management came to spray they could get into every nook and cranny.

Well, the house was cluttered with all our cabinet stuff: glasses, mugs, plates, bowls, spices, etc. I even scrubbed out the cabinets b/c I could see evidence of the stupid bugs in some places. I was really getting grossed out by the number I found and was beginning to feel hopeless.

Well, I started going through all my spices and everything to make sure no bugs were hiding on the outside and I got to the flour. I noticed there were bugs on the top of the bag and slowly started opening the bag. To my utter HORROR there were hundreds, if not Thousands of the bugs inside the bag! I freaked out and made Brian come take them to the dumpster immediately. Brian also had the good idea to check the bread machine flour and to my chagrin there were a few bugs in there too.

Well, I did my homework and came and looked up what the pests were. Here is what NDSU Ag Department has to say about them:

Confused Flour Beetle and Red Flour Beetle

These beetles are frequent invaders in the home and are also one of the worst pests of flour mills. The beetles are about 1/8 inch long and reddish-brown in color. Females may live a year or more, dropping up to 500 eggs on infested foods. Small, white worms (larvae) hatch from these eggs and they feed until they're about 1/6 inch long. Under ideal conditions, development from egg to adult takes about two months. The beetles infest flour, breakfast food, baking powder, beans, peas, dry
pet food and other starchy materials.

So, hopefully the bugs won't come back now that we've disposed of the infected material. We've checked the breakfast food and all seems to be ok. What a NIGHTMARE!

CLICK ME CLICK ME

Funny Picture of Brian

And # 2

Brian's Trip to Santa Cruz

Brian went to Santa Cruz for an ultimate Frisbee tournament over Labor Day Weekend. He got to camp one night and had some interesting run-ins with some raccoons!

Brian standing in front of a large Redwood Tree

The pretty Pacific coast. I like the lighthouse.

Look at all those surfers!
"What, do they surf into the wall?!" -Debbie
"Yeah...well, it's beginner. The waves are small." -Brian

So, while Brian was chillin' on the West Coast, Debbie was running her tail off at the Virginia Beach Rock 'n Roll 1/2 Marathon on the East Coast! Brian had the camera all the way across the country with him...alas, no pictures to post of my race...but you can view pics on Becky's blog here

I got to run with Becky & her friend Melissa. Congrats Melissa on completing your 1st half marathon! Brian's dad, David, also ran with us. Congrats to you too for completing without injury!

We're bloggers...

Well, Brian and I've been married for 6 months now and we hadn't joined the blogger train...until now. It's fun to read and look at friends blogs so we decided to try it too. Now, we don't have kids yet so no fun pictures...but we do lead active lives...so we may throw in a few pictures of the fun things we do!

Hope to be consistent...we'll see!