Livin' The Wood Life: May 2010

As I mentioned a couple posts back, we have been all over the place lately on the weekends - five weekends in a row of road trips I believe. A couple weekends ago though, we truly had a whirlwind weekend. We went to Augusta, GA (4.5 hours from Durham), then to the cabin in Hancock Co.(1.5 hours past Augusta), to Athens for dinner (an hour away from cabin), back to the cabin to spend the night, and finally back to Durham (6.5 hrs from Hancock)...all in a 72 hour weekend! Whew..makes me tired (and car claustrophobic!) just thinking about it! :)

But...as always, we had so much fun! And as crazy as it was...would do it again if we could. :)

One of my best friends, Laura, is in med school at MCG (Medical College of Georgia) in Augusta, GA and has visited Ryan and I in Durham twice since we've lived here. She's one of the friends I never have the chance to see when we go home because she's not from my hometown, so I had been wanting to visit her in Augusta for a while. So, she and I picked a weekend...months in advance due to both of our busy schedules, marked it on our calendars, and decided to have a girl's weekend in Augusta! As it turns out though, my parents' cabin is only about an hour and a half past Augusta and TJ and a couple of his buddies were coming up from Florida for the weekend, so Ryan decided to join me for the road trip part, drop me off in Augusta on Friday night and then head to the cabin to hang out with guys for the weekend. Well, that's how this whole thing started, but when it was all said an done, a few other "opportunities" came up that we just couldn't turn down. :)

So 5 o'clock on Friday rolls around and we hit the road for Augusta. Ryan dropped me off at Laura's, then headed to the cabin. First "opportunity" that presented itself was me and Laura going to the cabin too. She'd never been there and we thought it would be fun to see everyone, so after a late night of chatting the hours away in Augusta, getting up before 8 AM for a 4 mile walk/run at the Canal in the rain, and baking a cheesecake, we too headed for Hancock on Saturday morning.

Once there, Ryan and Dad had to meet us at the gate to let us in because I couldn't figure out all 5 locks on the gate...

Before Dad headed back home, we celebrated his birthday with his favorite...cheesecake! (mine too!).

(Mom was in Atlanta for the Beth Moore conference, so we didn't even get to see her during the entire weekend in Georgia!) :(

We had so much fun hanging out with TJ, his roommate John, his friend Justin, and two of my favorite Georgia girls, TJ's girlfriend Jennica, and her friend Kelly, who we met and hung out with in Jacksonville, FL last year for the GA/FL game.

When we first got there, the guys weren't around, but a few minutes later, Dad got a call that TJ, John, and Justin were stuck in the mud in John's Tahoe, so Laura and I rode along with Dad and Ryan to go pull them out with Dad's truck. Wish I had a picture...it was so muddy from all the rain and their wheels were just spinning...but at that point, I didn't know John and Justin that well and they probably would have thought I was weird for taking a picture of them helplessly stuck in the mud, having to get towed out lol.

Second "opportunity" that came up was a trip to Athens for dinner. Being only about an hour away, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to meet up with some friends...and as it turned out, Jamie and her friend Jessica too, for dinner. We were all the way in Georgia, might as well drive another hour to get to see some more friends, right?! :) Besides, between Duke and Florida games last season, I hadn't made it to Athens in a while (over a year!)...and truth be told, I miss that place! Turns out, TJ & Co. had Athens plans for Saturday night too, to go to a sorority event with Jennica - she had even arranged dates for John and Justin - but that got rained out, so we ended up all going to dinner together at one of my favorite Athens restaurants, DePalmas - yum!

My Georgia girls!! Breanne, Laura, and me at DePalmas, where we celebrated birthdays in college and where Bre got me hooked on their spinach cheese bread sticks...mmmmm! (Can we go back already?? With Britney and Carrie next time and all will be right in the world!)

TJ & his buds...TJ, Kelly, John, Jennica, Jenn's friend (Janine?), and Justin.

Thought it was ironic...on a couple of levels...that while we were eating, Matthew Stafford and his girlfriend sat at a table near us. Here, we've got Florida football players, including their starting quarterback, that are not only hanging out in Athens, GA, (incognito of course, lol!) but then Georgia's former quarterback/last year's #1 draft pick sits down beside us...as the draft is going on. I jokingly told John we should get a pic of him with Stafford to document that both GA's and FL's quarterbacks were eating at the same restaurant, but he said "ah, he doesn't even know who I am". Umm...pretty sure that you being Florida's starting quarterback, who's replacing Tim Tebow...and has gotten his fair share of ESPN coverage during spring football...and the fact that Stafford is the quarterback of your arch rival team...pretttttty sure he more than likely knows who you are. But, refreshing to see a college kid who's not full of himself! Thought it was also funny hearing the stories the next day of the people who recognized them as Florida players and them pretending they were not...I mean people had to have wondered what in the heck Florida football players were doing hanging out in downtown Athens, GA...in enemy territory. Ha!

Gotta get the sib pics...because I miss these two! Jamie didn't even know that TJ was going to dinner with us since that all happened last minute, so she got a bonus when she got to have dinner with two of her three out-of-town sibs! It's so fun being all together :). Too bad Matt was up to his ears in papers and studying for finals back in Durham, so he wasn't able to join on this trip...such is life I've learned - we're always missing someone!

And the latest big news...this little girl in pink is.....

GOING TO BE A GEORGIA BULLDOG!!!

WOOHOO!!! I'm so excited for my little Jamieloo! Can't wait for her to experience all the fun things and places...and even study spots that I did during my 4 years in Athens, GA!

So, after a fun night in Athens with friends and the sibs and my favorite food, we headed back to the cabin to sleep like babies through thunderstorms and a downpour under the tin roof. Pure heaven on earth for me!

On Sunday, we fished...

Martha & Dexter came down for the afternoon to hang out...it really was a weekend of squeezing so much in and getting to see so many of our favorite people!

...and hung out like country bumpkins, complete with dip cans, spit cups, and straw-chewing story telling...

Kelly & Jennica

...and because they are just two of the cutest girls to ever walk UGA's campus, I felt the need to include more versions of this already adorable picture... ;)

and while most of you know them as football players...

did you know these boys are also the billboard faces of "Ducks Unlimited"'s most recent marketing campaign?

kidding...gotta love Photoshop. :) Just couldn't resist playing with such a great picture...southern boys, muddy truck with the duck logo sticker, blue jeans shoved into cowboy boots, camo hat, all by a pond in the woods on hunting land...love it!

It was one of those perfect days you don't ever want to end...serene setting with people you love being with...

But after hanging out for as long as we could that afternoon before our long drives, we all got in our cars and went our different ways...Martha & Dexter back to Buford, GA; Justin back to Gainesville, GA; TJ & John back to Gainesville, FL; Laura back to Augusta, GA; and us back to Durham, NC.

In an effort to catch up on the things we've been up to and our crazy weekend trips, here is a post about our Easter this year, complete with lots of pictures...and I do mean lots! The other weekends are still to come...

Though Easter this year (4.4.2010) was very nontraditional, we still managed to keep all of the important Easter traditions. By nontraditional, I mean that minus TJ and my cousin, Jimmy, my mom's entire side of the family spent the weekend at the cabin: Joyce, the Baguleys (plus Wes), my cousin Andrea and her kids Alicia & AJ, and Mom, Dad, Matt, and Jamie.

There was no Easter Sunday church service and there were no Easter dresses, but we did have our own Easter celebration, complete with worship led by Wes on the guitar, reading the Easter story from the Bible, share time, and communion - compliments of Joyce (she made communion crackers and brought grape juice!). It actually made for one of my favorite and most memorable Easters ever - to be able to celebrate Jesus' resurrection in such an intimate setting surrounded by those closest to us, knowing that we were not only family, but a family unified in Christ. In other Easter traditions, we also had an Easter egg hunt for the kids and the Easter Bunny even managed to find Alicia and AJ all the way out in the middle of Country Bumpkin, USA!

Here we are...on the road again! We pretty much know I-85 with our eyes closed.

Sadie greeted us when we arrived - she was so excited, she kept jumping on both of us, running from door to door.

There she is..."The Roost"...heaven on earth for the Pridemore family men...

Dad's done a lot with the place, especially since it started out as a "pole barn"...it looks awesome. It serves as the family gathering place these days. The last two times we've been to Georgia, we've been to the cabin and haven't even made it home.

An awesome place to relax and just sit in rocking chairs on the front porch in the middle of the woods...

Ryan and I may have both grown up in the outskirts of Atlanta, but with my dad being from the mountains of West Virginia and Ryan's dad being from lower Alabama, there's definitely a little country bumpkin in both of us and this place will soothe the country soul. It's nice to get away here where you don't see a car all weekend other than the ones parked in the yard, you can put your phone down and not pick it up all weekend and you don't have anywhere to go, so you might as well just relax and hang out.

Before everyone got there, Alicia and AJ got bored and resorted to reading their (identical) books and picking flowers for their mom, but once everyone got there, they wore themselves out trying to do everything.

We rode 4-wheelers...

I let Alicia drive the whole way back from the pond, several miles away.

...while Mom and Joyce rocked and corralled the dogs....

...and Sadie ruled "the Roost"...

She's a spoiled "only dog" and didn't get along well with Carolina and Brody...and was bitter that we left her behind on the 4-wheeler outing...

This one of Mom and Joyce cracks me up. Mom's laughing at something and Joyce is startled by something Brody did...

The boys...Dad, Ryan, and Matt...went hunting, of course. Ryan shot his first turkey (that I posted about here) and Alicia and AJ learned all about hunting safety, ethics, and cleaning turkeys.

AJ kept some feathers as a souvenir. He and Alicia tried to carry the turkey to weigh it and clean it, but at almost 20 lbs., Dad had to take over...

This next picture isn't for the weak-stomached, but Alicia and AJ watched Dad and Ryan clean the turkey like champs. They kept inching closer and were fascinated with all of it's parts...the gizzard, the stomach, etc...

Matt was determined to get a turkey at this point. The weekend before had been opening weekend for turkey season and Dad and TJ had gotten turkeys and now Ryan...he was the only one left. Unfortunately, he came back empty handed after a hunt by himself, so Alicia and I went to pick him up. Little Annie Oakley she is!

But the next morning...he got his turkey!

We spent some time at the pond fishing...

...and watching from the Rhino...

And this one cracks me up. Tina, me, and Andrea just taking a girl cousin pic...while Ryan naps on the four-wheeler in the background! Took me a while to even notice him back there.

And just because I think he's so cute... ;)

A few of us snuck back to the cabin to stuff Easter eggs for the egg hunt before Alicia and AJ came back from the pond.

I took this when he was driving the four-wheeler and wasn't looking...

We left Matt in our dust...

Mean Aunt Tina made "gag eggs" and filled hers with grass, rocks, and cereal...

Poor Alicia found all of Tina's eggs while AJ got the good ones. Here's AJ finding a camo egg...those had money in them.

It was so fun spending Easter with the Baguleys. I remember one Easter as a kid when Tina and I had stayed up so late (like we always did) that we heard the Easter Bunny in the kitchen. We were giggling too loud (like we always did), so Joyce came and peeked in on us (like someone always did...usually it was my uncle Steve though) and we pretended to be asleep (like we always did!). Ahh, good memories... :)