Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya, Tomorrow...

Why do I love tomorrow?!?

Because we are taking off to the mountains of Tennessee for a whole week!! I have been looking forward to this for months now!! Yes, I am excited about seeing my family for a week, but I am REALLY excited about being off work and out of town for a week!!

Maybe there will be blogging...Maybe there won't be. We'll just have to wait and see. It depends on how busy I am laying around and doing a bunch of nothing!! :)

Hot tub, mountains, family...here we come!!

Dinner Last Night

I tried a new recipe last night, and it was GOOD!! I thought I would pass it along in case any of you were interested in an easy crock pot recipe. The best part about this is the chicken can actually be put in the crock pot frozen. That really takes the planning and thinking out of everything!!

Crockpot Barbecue Chicken

Canning

Speaking of canning...my friend Beth tagged me in this on Pinterest, and I thought it was pretty hilarious!

That's not exactly true of my canning this year, but it is quite funny!! I won't lie, though, I am slightly addicted to this thing called canning!! I really like doing it, and it isn't near as hard as I thought it would be!!

So far, I have done salsa, sweet and dill pickles, peaches, pickled okra, pickled jalapenos, pickled banana peppers, pickled tomatoes, and apple butter. Next on the list is more pickles, peppers, okra and tomatoes (until the garden gives out) as well as pumpkin butter and hopefully more apple butter. Plus, whatever else I can find! Anyone have canning suggestions??

Bucket List Update

Here are two more that I have knocked off my Fall Bucket List. Still aiming at getting them all done!!

I made David some Caramel Apples. They are pretty much his fav!

I also made an Apple Pie.

The Apple Butter was my latest adventure. I tried out my mom's recipe for the very first time. It was much easier than I thought (aside from the peeling and chopping). I'm hoping to hit up Skytop Orchard again and make another batch before the season is over.

The Lion King in 3D

On Friday, AG and I went to see The Lion King in 3D. It brought back some serious memories!! I hadn't seen The Lion King in YEARS, but that didn't stop me from singing all the songs and saying most of the lines in my head right along with the characters. I don't have a ton of experience with 3D movies, but I thought it was great in 3D! If you get a chance, go see it. If you are like me and don't want to do it alone, grab a kid that you know and make their day too!! :)





Birthday Weekend

My birthday was last Friday. This birthday wasn't anything special in number, but it was special in that my mom and dad are home and could share it with me. It has been several years since I have been able to spend my birthday with them, and it was such a treat to have them at our house for the weekend. We had such a great time together! Of course, the time wasn't long enough, but it never really is.

Friday started with breakfast from D. She knows I love pumpkin, so she brought a pumpkin doughnut, a pumpkin muffin, a pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin spice K-cups, and regular Dunkin Doughnut K-cups. I do love pumpkin, but she was killing me with all that!! She also gave me a card with a birthday badge in it. I wore it all day (on the reverse side of my hospital badge).

 The badge said, "It's my birthday! Wanna Spank me?!" She is crazy, but I love her!!

I only work half days on Fridays, which is super nice. This meant that we would be able to go out for lunch on my birthday. One of the best things about our birthdays when we were growing up was our birthday lunch. My dad would get us out of school and let us pick where we wanted to go. This year, I picked Ford's Oyster House and Cajun Restaurant in Downtown Greenville.  Leigh Ann has been telling me about this place for a while but I wanted to save it until my parents came. Boy, was it worth the wait!!

My mom and I ordered Shrimp Po'Boys. Hers was regular, and mine was buffalo. She got fries, and I got cheese grits. My dad and David both got the Red Beans and Rice. Everything was SO GOOD!! If you live in the Greenville area, you MUST go! If you don't live in the Greenville area, it is worth the drive! We are already talking about when we can go back. Mom actually mentioned eating there again before they left, but we didn't.

After we ate lunch, we walked up Main Street to the Mast General Store and made a stop by Marble Slab on the way back to the car. I'd rather have ice cream than birthday cake any day!!

Saturday, of course, involved football. We watched some games on TV and then went over to mine and David's Alma Mater, North Greenville University, that evening for their home game. We had a great time - until the coconut casserole arrived. It sort of went downhill from there!

Sunday was probably the busiest day we had all weekend. My dad preached at our church Sunday morning - and did an excellent job, I might add. After church and Sunday School, we went with some of the team members from our Guate trip last year to lunch at Mr. Salsa's for lunch. We then headed to Easley to David's grandparent's house for a little fellowship and dinner before we went to their church that evening. Some friends of my parents's friends go to that church, so it was neat for them to be able to visit with them this weekend as well. It was a long day, but we enjoyed getting to spend time with everyone.

After the long day on Sunday, we all slept in a little later than the days before. I had fixed a breakfast casserole in the crock pot, so we had that and took our time getting ready. We also had some "get to know ya" time with Strykie. He is still in the process of learning to make friends, so he gets to wear his muzzle - just in case the spiders that live in his head and make him crazy cause him forget that they are indeed friends. He loved all the rubbing and scratching that Dad was giving him though! :)

That afternoon, we headed up to Flat Rock, NC to Skytop Orchard. We grabbed some baskets and headed into the orchard to pick our apples. The weather could not have been more perfect for a day in the orchard - overcast and cool. We had so much fun walking through and sampling the different varieties of apples - oh yeah, and the apple doughnuts too!

 Dad got out his trusty pocket knife and peeled our sample apples.

 I love this picture of "The David's" carrying our baskets.

*This marks off one more on the Fall Bucket List - Picking Apples*

After picking, we headed back down the mountain to Ryan and Leigh Ann's house to visit with Ben and Anna Grace. **I just realized I haven't blogged much about LA. I may have to fix that in the near future.** Momma G and PaPa D (as they are known to LA's kids), of course, came bearing gifts. There were DVDs, candy, and toys for both of them. In addition to the gifts, there was a lot of play time! We stayed longer than we probably should, but it was hard for everyone to say "Good-Bye!"

Ben loves to "hunt" animals. PaPa D played the bear, and Ben was the hunter. That poor bear didn't have a chance!

Tuesday was the worst day of them all, because that was the day they left to go home. On the way out of town, we stopped for lunch at Dickey's BBQ. Dad loves some good ole BBQ, and he hasn't had much since he has been in the States. Dickey's was great because we all got to have BBQ and ice cream - two of Dad's favs.

I sure hated to see them go. We had a great weekend!! I'm so thankful to have parents that are fun to hang out with, as well as a husband that likes to spend time with them too. When we sat down Tuesday night in an empty house, David said, "I sure hate your parents had to go. We had a good weekend." I felt the same way! I sure hate they couldn't stay any longer!!

Fall Bucket List

I've seen a lot of people post various types of "Bucket Lists" on their blogs. I haven't given them much thought for myself, but I've enjoyed seeing what they come up with and how they accomplish it.

I found this Fall Bucket List (yes, on Pinterest) and thought it might be fun to try. I don't know that I'll mark them all off, but I know there are several of them that I can't wait to do!! I'm really looking forward to this weekend when my parents are here as well as our family trip to the mountains in Oct. Maybe I can get most of them marked off then...

I guess I can mark off "Drink Fancy Coffee Drinks". I've already had my Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks, although I plan to have several more of these "Fancy Coffee Drinks" before the season is through! :)

OUTWIT OUTPLAY OUTLAST

That's right, Friends, it's that time again!! This marks the 23rd season of one of my most favorite shows - Survivor. I wish I could say that I had watched all of them, but I was a late bloomer when it came to Survivor. I got in on the fun a few seasons in, but I don't think I've missed a season since then. I love Survivor! It is definitely the highlight of my week! I do hate that they have moved the show to Wednesday nights instead of Thursdays; that messes me up. Nevertheless, I still camp out each week and watch.

Jeff Probst is my most favorite reality tv host. I think he is HILARIOUS! I would love to meet him, although I don't think it will be on the show. If Survivor were just about surviving in the wilderness, I would sign up in a heartbeat. I definitely don't think I would last long at all with all the drama, but it sure is fun to watch!!

Hardy Har Har!!

The #1 thing I love about my fam...EVERY time we are together, we end up like this...

Getting Crafty

My dad is getting harder and harder to buy for these days, which makes birthdays and Christmas a challenge. This year for his birthday, I decided to get crafty (thanks to Pinterest and Vino and Van Gogh) and try out my very first on my own painting.

Keep in mind that this was for my dad so these were the main colors that I needed.

I started out painting the entire canvas red.

I bought a kit from WalMart that had the canvas, paints and brushes in it. I didn't want to go too big until I knew that I could do this and liked doing it. I now have plans to go back for more and am thinking ahead to what else I can do!!

This was the final product. I wasn't 100% in love with it, but for my first attempt, I didn't think it was too bad.

 Apparently my dad didn't either. This was his response when he opened it.

So, what else did the Miller family do for my dad's birthday weekend?!? A whole lot of this...

All in all, it was a great time had by all!!



Feliz Cumpli, Papa

Do you remember what you were doing on September 11, 2001? I do. I was talking to my dad on the phone because that is his birthday. We were actually watching the news and talking when the second plane hit the World Trade Center building. I will never forget it.

September 11th had always been a special day in our family, and even though the meaning has changed a bit, it will always be the day that Ruby Miller birthed my daddy, David Stephen Miller.

I am very thankful to have a dad like him! He was definitely the leader of our family, but always knew how to balance fun and seriousness. I have so many great memories of crazy things that we have done over the years - camping trips in the blue goose, riding roller coasters, near death experiences in the ocean, zipling through the jungle, a-typical family vacations, even climbing volcanoes. I mean, seriously, how many of you can say that you have done things like that with your dad?!

Happy Birthday, Jeff! I love ya!

FOOTBALL

 

Today is FOOTBALL day here in the South!

I don't know about y'all but I was raised to love some football. Not just any football...SEC Football...I mean, really?! Is there another conference?!

There were certain football rules in our house - aside from the given, "Don't stand in front of the TV". I was taught who to love and who to hate dislike at an early age. Much to my parents' dismay, the girls turned out to be Auburn fans, thanks to some loving friends who showed us the light and taught us the truth. That means our house is split - 3 and 3 - Auburn and Georgia. We do agree on the key issues though - hate  dislike Tennessee, Florida, Steve Spurrier, and Alabama.

I have many very fond memories surrounding football - watching at home, going to games, playing the in yard, arguing over teams, etc. I am thankful for football in South!

 Just in case you might have missed it...let me just remind you...

This Weekend

I am very excited about this weekend!! My dad's birthday is on Sunday, and we all decided to go to Augusta for the weekend - since we can this year. I'm pretty sure that this is the first time that all 6 of us have been together since we were in Guatemala.

I love my family! I love it when we can all be together! I love the laughing that ALWAYS happens when we are together!

Fall

Fall is upon us. This weekend started it for us. Cooler weather, camping, fires, football, and now another of my favs - Pumpkin Spice Lattes! I love them! It is seriously liquid Pumpkin Pie! I am one happy girl!

David

According to Wikipedia, "30 (thirty) is the natural number following 29 and preceding 31." According to me, 30 is the new age of my husband, David!!

 This is a pretty big birthday, and we had to do some fun stuff.

Although David's birthday wasn't until Sunday, the 4th, the birthday celebration started Thursday night. His parents took us out for dinner - Miyabi for sushi, of course - David's fav!! After dinner we stopped by Academy - another of David's favs. Then it was off to the mall for cookies, ice cream, and a quick walk through (there's a new Apple store there). I left my phone and David wouldn't let me borrow his, so I have no pics to show you. It happened though, I promise!

On Friday we packed up and headed to Lake Toxaway, NC for a weekend of camping at Panther Ridge Campground. This was a surprise for David. He was originally scheduled to work all weekend, but I managed to pull some strings and make sure we could get away. I don't have many pics since we did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! Like literally, the most activity we did was cooking, building a fire at night and taking a shower. As for the rest of the time, we laid around, took naps, and just chilled. It was so nice! We did, however, almost hit a bear on the way up there. Like seriously, slam on breaks so as not to hit this MASSIVE creature. I am not exaggerating when I say it would have been at least 6 feet tall on his back legs. He was zoo big. I've never seen one that big - even at Cades Cove or other places in the mountains. It was crazy!!

 Our camping set up.

 Our tent and fire at night. It was so peaceful there in the mountains.

We kept an eye on the weather since we knew Tropical Storm Lee was moving in. Since they were calling for heavy rain Sunday evening and all day Monday, we decided to pack up and head home a day early. We knew packing up would be MISERABLE in the rain, and we could at least enjoy our last bit of time off at home.

We weren't in any rush to get back, so we drove over to Cashiers, NC and stopped at Bucks Coffee Cafe for a cup of joe. Then we went to Aunt Sue's for lunch and headed on home.

On the way home we heard on the radio that the Upper SC State Fair was in town, so I talked David into going over there for the evening. We enjoyed corn dogs, nachos, fresh lemonade and a caramel apple while walking around and watching people. I swear, I could have sat there all day and just watched the people. That was worth every bit of the ticket price!

David and I at the Fair.

David had to play one of the shooting games while we were there, despite the fact that all those games are rigged.

I'm not going to lie, one of the main reasons that I wanted to go to the Fair was because they have a rodeo. You see, I've never been to a real rodeo. I've been to a bull fight in Costa Rica, but not a real American rodeo. I figured a Fair rodeo was as good as any, right?!?

Here are some video clips from the rodeo.

This was the parade of all the cowboys and cowgirls.

This guy was the best cowboy to watch!

 

It was way too difficult to choose just one as the Worst Dressed; however, we did see this...the Mexican Mullet. Although not the worst thing we saw, it was quite hilarious. This guy was ready for anything..."Business in the Front and Party in the Back."

David

Today is the day that the love of my life was birthed into this world. I am very thankful that God made him and made him for me! There will be more later about his birthday celebration, but for now I just want to wish him a super happy birthday!

Sharing

Growing up in a family with 4 kids definitely had its advantages and disadvantages.

One thing we learned VERY early was to share - EVERYTHING - toys, rooms, clothes, food...EVERYTHING! This is both a good and bad thing.

• Good - we were nice kids and "Got Caught Doing Something Good" at school.
• Bad - I was in late middle school before I even got my own room. If I wasn't sharing with one sibling, I was sharing with another...and some times more than one!

This brings me to the sharing of food. The only way that I know how to rationalize this is to say that my mom was very "thrifty" when we were growing up. With 4 kids on a minister and teacher's salary, we didn't go out to eat a lot. When we did get something as great as McDonald's, the choice was only a hamburger or cheeseburger. I was half grown before I even knew that they served CHICKEN!! It was the same with Taco Bell - taco or burrito. (I think I may have talked about that in another post. Oh well, sorry about that!)

Oh, back to the sharing...my mom was a hard core believer that if something came in a pack of multiples then it was meant to be shared. No one EVER got to eat the whole thing.

Case in point...

Contrary to popular belief, although these come individually wrapped in a two pack...

They were not made for one person, but for two. That's right, friends, one set for the back seat of the van and one set for the middle seat.

The same with these...

The crazy thing about these is, with 2 packs of these a family of 6 can each get 2 crackers. That's right, you heard it, 2 crackers each!!

Some of you with children may be thinking ..."Wow! That Glynis is a genius! I must try this ASAP!" Well, for the sake of your dear children, let me tell you the tricky part to these snacks. Notice the key ingredient that is shared in these two snacks - PEANUT BUTTER. For those of you that may not know, peanut butter has a clogging effect, as in throat clogging. Please, please, please do not be like Glynis. Provide these poor children with a beverage. "Swallowing hard" just doesn't cut it when peanut butter is involved.

September

I cannot believe that September is already here!! Where has this year gone?!?

I found a lot of facts about the month of September, but I wasn't sure if you all would be interested in reading them. I realize not everyone is as interested in history as I am. If you are, google it. It is kind of neat. I did, however, find a few that I thought I would share...

• Pilgrims sailed from England in the Mayflower, September 16, 1620.
• Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner" during the attack on Fort McHenry, September 14, 1814.
• California became the 31st state, September 9, 1850.
• The groundbreaking ceremony for the Pentagon took place on September 11, 1941— exactly 60 years before the terrorist attack in 2001. 

September is usually a busy month for us, but this year it will be exceptionally busy. September holds David’s birthday, my Dad’s birthday, my birthday, and David’s Grandfather’s birthday. I know that doesn’t sound like much to some, but add in two states, three cities, and two trips and you’ll see why it will be busy. There are 4 weekends in September, and we will be traveling during 3 of them!

This year David is turning the BIG 3-0!! As hard as it is to believe that my bro and sis are in their 30s, it is even harder to believe that my own hubby will be 30. Does that mean we are grown up now?!? I don’t know!

In honor of his special day, I decided to take him on a surprise trip. I thought about doing a big birthday party – a surprise party - for him, but he isn’t much of the partying type. I knew he would be more miserable than excited, so I changed to a weekend get away. The timing on this could not be more perfect since he has been working his tail off lately!! He is in dire need of a vacation, not just a day off but some time away. 

The following weekend is my Dad’s birthday. Since they are in the States, all of us kids decided to make sure we were together for his birthday. We will all travel to Augusta to spend the weekend with my mom and dad. Who knows what we will do while we are together!! What I do know is my mom will cook (yes!!) and lots of fun will be had by all. One thing I know and love about my family is when we are all together, lots of laughter and fun takes place!!

Next up is my birthday. While my parents are here, they have planned to visit those of us outside the Augusta area for a weekend. Since my birthday falls on a weekend, they are coming here then!! Growing up, birthdays were very special in that my dad would get us out of school and take us to any restaurant that we wanted. It didn’t matter the type of food or price – we got to pick. Again, this may not sound like much, but for kids that only had the choice of a hamburger or cheeseburger at McDonald’s, this was HUGE!! I haven’t gotten to do this for several years, but this year we are heading out for my birthday lunch (oh, and we are letting David and Glyn tag along too). You’ll have to wait for more details and pics on that, but know now that I am super excited about taking them to a restaurant in Downtown Greenville that I haven’t been to yet.

That Saturday we will head to the Columbia area to my aunt and uncle’s lake house. Each year they plan a family weekend where we are all invited to the lake to hang out, eat, and relax. It isn’t usually on my birthday weekend, but that seemed to be the weekend that worked this year. This is one of the few times that my parents will get to see my dad’s side of the family, so we will head down that way for the day. We will only be going for the day, so it will be a long day of traveling mixed with hanging out.

We can only go for the day because my dad will be preaching at our church, Marietta First Baptist Church, on Sunday. Our church supports them on the field and has even sent a team to Guatemala to help them with a conference. Everyone is very excited to see them and hear them share.

David’s side of the family usually does a joint birthday celebration for David, Papa Wayne and me. We haven’t made plans yet, but I’m sure we will get together that last weekend in September…I mean, what else is left, right?!?

So, take all that, mix it with everything else that will happen during the weeks of September, throw in work, and you will see why we will be having such a busy September. I’m excited though!! It will be busy, but super fun – family times and new memories will be made!! Look for pics throughout the month of all of these adventures.