Sunday, December 27, 2009

Christmas 2009

Well, it officially took forever to download my pictures. I've at least recently come to the conclusion that it'll be much easier if I download the pictures before typing my post. Maybe my New Year's Resolution will be to be more patient...that'll never work!!


Anyway, it was another year and another great Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent at Mike's parent's house. We had a great time. Thanks to everyone for the gifts. Then Christmas Day was at my parent's house. It was rainy but we still had a great time. Uncle Billy was there to entertain us. This was the first Christmas with both babies. They were so well behaved ( I don't think that's how you spell that word, but you get what I mean), so adorable, and so much fun!! Can't wait for them to get older. I really can't wait to be able to play with all the fun stuff they'll be getting for Christmas.

Grandma Brown got the girls these vintage looking tops. They were the hit gift of the day. The babies loved them...as did the adults!!


As you can see, they're trying to figure them out. Samantha seems to be very determined!!



Grandma and Grandpa Brown...adorable!!


Uncle Robert and Aunt Annette...love them!!!


Dad and Virginia. Those two kids really do love their Grandparents!



Samantha playing hide and seek. She wasn't a very good hider!




Our niece Ashleigh. She got those very cool boots for Christmas. More importantly, she also got engaged right before Christmas. It's looking like an October wedding. Congrats to Ashleigh and Jason.




Mike's parents gift....some of my finest wrapping. When we got it to their house, we realized that we didn't get the whole thing covered. Oh well!

We are blessed to have such a wonderful and loving family. We love you all!!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Ah, Revenge. It is Sweet

This week myself and a few co-workers were able to get the last word (as they say) on a fellow co-worker. It was one of the best pranks I've ever had the pleasure of participating in. I'll tell the story but it is rather lengthy and I'm sure will not be as amusing to others as it was to the people involved. Ok, here goes....

Every year there is a door decorating contest for Christmas. A wreath is always involved and must be decorated according to the theme for the year. This year's theme was candy and it must reflect your personality. We have a new Operations Director in the building this year (transferred from another location). Therefore it was his (Ron) first year participating in the contest and he was determined to win. The ladies that work for him said they were scared they'd lose their jobs if they didn't win. Well, they decorated their door early and it was impressive.

After seeing their door, I decided to scrap my idea because it was lame. My department, Finance, decided that although Operations door was pretty, it did not properly reflect the theme and therefore, we could not let them win. We decided to spring our door on them at the last minute. The judging was to be this Thursday so we were going to decorate Wednesday after work.

Well, I got to work Wednesday morning and before I could even take my coat off, my co-worker, Sandy, was in my office and said "We're pissed". Coming from Sandy, them is fighting words. Apparently, the judging had taken place Tuesday night because there was a first place ribbon on Operations door and a second place ribbon on another door. I flew off the handle (surprise, surprise) and marched up to Operations and said to Ron "This is BS and we are protesting" (like we really could protest a door decorating contest). Well, I started to notice that all the other decorated doors had 2nd place ribbons. Well, Ron thought it would be funny to play this trick on everyone - you know, everyone else is 2nd and he is first.

While at lunch that day, we devised a plan for revenge. After Ron left that night we went up to his department and took his entire door off!!! We moved it to an unused office. We, of course, did not ruin the decorations. We put a sign in the doorway where the door was saying he'd been disqualified and we also left a ransom note for the door. He and his department were a bit shocked to come in the day of the judging and find that their whole dang door was gone.

Finance finished our door and we did indeed win the real competition. That made it even sweeter. Operation's door was judged as it leaned against the wall!!! I sent Ron an email that read "In your face...#1 goes to Finance. Merry Christmas." As many know, I love a little trash talking. I think Ron was surprised at my enthusiasm for the trashing talking. It was so much fun!!!!

Here are a few pictures to commemorate our sweet revenge...







We won a new car for coming in first place!!!



The Operations door - after the kidnapping.



The winning door!!!

One final touch on the prank. This morning, in the door less door frame, there was a bag of wood chips with a note that read "Ron's Door, R.I.P." He has warned us that the bar has been raised and there will be payback. All we have to say is...BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Visit with Samantha

Mike and I went to visit Susan, Joe & Samantha Saturday night. We finally got to see the room that Joe finished over the garage. It's his studio and it was very nice. He did a great job (Susan did a good job picking out colors and the hardwoods). Joe made some awesome chili for dinner. It was delicious!! The rest of the evening Samantha entertained us. They showed us her Fozzy Bear trick. That was the funnies thing I've seen in a long time. If you say to Samantha "Fozzy Bear", she'll open her mouth wide. They say she's never even seen Fozzy Bear. No matter how many times you say it, she opens wide. I almost spit my food out the first time she did it.

Another personal favorite is the blanket over the head trick. They'll put her blanket over her head and act like they don't see her. Samantha thinks this is the funniest thing. She'll just sit there with the blanket on her and and just shake her arms with delight. I'll be remembering that little game when I babysit.

She's a fun kid and we enjoyed our visit...Thanks Joe and Susan for having us over!!!



This is a classic Samantha look...the scrunchy eyebrows.



Nico and Rufus were full of energy.

Another Samantha classic. She would 'hide' behind the table and then pop up to surprise us.


Last but not least, the Fozzy Bear look!! Love it!!!
The kid just cracks me up. I can't wait until she starts talking. That's really gonna be funny. She reminds me so much of Susan!!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

25 Years!!

Last night we went to a surprise party for Mike's sister and husband, Sharon and Keith. Their 25th wedding anniversary is December 8th!! Our niece and nephew organized the party. There were probably about 100 people there. I was really impressed with how nice it was. Ashleigh (niece) really put a lot of thought and work into the night. Brandon (nephew) put together a photo slide show and also had a mini 'roast' of the couple. Mike was happy because Shell's BBQ catered the event.

You couldn't meet nicer people than Sharon and Keith. It was obvious last night how many other people feel the same way. Congratulations to Sharon and Keith!!!!


Sharon & Keith

The kids greeting Sharon & Keith when they arrived at the party.


Ashleigh greeting her mom as she came in the door.



Brandon and Mike's Mom, Betty

Anniversary cake

Sunday, November 29, 2009

O'Christmas Tree


Yup, that's the Wike Family 'tree' for this year. It came to be because I just about had a nervous breakdown trying to get the lights untangled that I was putting on the deck railing. It was cold and I was getting very frustrated. I keep telling myself "Pretend you're on the Amazing Race. The key to any challenge is to stay calm!" Well, that sorta kinda worked. I got the majority of the lights untangled. Then I stomped inside and declared that I just couldn't stand the idea of putting lights and ornaments on a tree after that trying experience. Thus, the Wike Family 'tree thing' was born!!



Merry Christmas!!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Seagrove

Ok, I've recommitted myself to the blog. I think my New Year's Resolution will be to post once a week (with a picture). So, I'm going to try and start early...or at least try and get back in the swing of things in preparation for next year.

I've recently signed up for Facebook and I've got to say...I don't get it. I don't really see what the big deal is. Sure, it's neat to see old friends, but aside from that, I'm not that into it. What is really annoying is all those dumb games that everyone plays. You can definitely tell the people that have too much time on their hands.

Anyway, the folks, Susan, Grandma, and I made the trek to Seagrove, NC for their annual pottery festival. It's become a bit of a tradition for my parents and myself. Susan and Grandma were new recruits this year. As always, it was fun. And also, as always, it was hard to decide what to buy.
Here's what I bought. Mike was less than impressed.



That'll teach him to tag along next time. I actually love what I got!! Thanksgiving this week...can't wait!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

It's Been Awhile

I know I've been ignoring the blog lately but I've really had nothing to blog about. Life has been pretty ho-hum. Oh yeah, last weekend I did go see the Zac Brown Band in concert. I went with Susan, Leslie and Leslie's boy_friend...can't remember his name. Anyway, I don't have any pictures to post because it was raining so I didn't take my camera. I'm glad that I didn't take the camera because it rained cats and dogs. That's ok though, we had ample rain gear and stayed dry. Our seats were great, the show was great...it was just all around great!

Um, let's see, what else has happened since my last post??? Oh yeah, I've won the Edifice office football pool two out of the first three weeks of the season!!! I'm very stoked about that. I've been telling everyone at work (even though they could care less). We have a meeting every Monday morning (it includes all the higher ups) and we start with celebrations. I, of course, had a celebration...I was victorious in the football pool. Somehow, my celebration didn't make it into the official notes from the meeting.

I'm sitting here listening to Mike rant about Troy Aikman while watching the Cowboys play. He really doesn't like Troy any more because Troy tries to be objective and doesn't just lust over the Cowboys blindly. What a traitor!!!

I'm trying to finish reading Julie & Julia. It's good and Julie is very funny. Not to mention, she has a foul mouth!! But I'm very disappointed to learn that she has a new book coming out that chronicles the affair she had after she wrote her first book. How could she cheat on Eric?!?!

Ok, that's enough random rambling for now. Maybe, before too long, I'll have some pictures to post of something.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Virginia's (Almost) 1st Birthday Party

Saturday Mike and I hosted a party for our niece Virginia's first birthday. She actually turns 1 on Tuesday, the 22nd. The whole family was there, except for Annette & Robert. Reiggin's mom and a few of Kathy & Reiggin's friends made it as well. My other niece Samantha blessed up with her presence. Both kidos were very good (at least as long as Mom was in sight!). We really enjoyed having everyone over and I'm especially glad we could help Kathy celebrate Virginia's 1st birthday.


Kathy had a really cute cake made. It was also very delicious!

Virginia liked being the center of attention!


Samantha, enjoying some tasty wrapping paper!

Overheard: Samantha said, "So what, I'll be 1 in 4 months!" Samantha got the smart alec gene from her mom!

Man, do I know how to throw a wild and crazy party or what?!?!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Wandering Sunday

Mike and I took the bike out for a Sunday ride. Mike had some dirt roads he wanted to explore. At first, we didn't have any luck finding the roads that were on the map. But that's OK, we still enjoyed just exploring. This was a neat monument in Old Fort, NC.


This was down a dirt road that eventually ended into private property. This was a really, nice secluded road.



We eventually ended up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We went to Mt. Mitchell State Park. It got a bit chilly up there. It had been probably 10 years since we'd last been there. They'd made many improvements. I was surprised at how many people had brought their dogs. Just to prove that we were there...




We left Mt. Mitchell and took a dirt road that was off the parkway. This road was actually fairly heavily traveled (as dirt roads go). There were many people camping along the road. This was a very scenic little road.



All in all, it was a nice day.

Monday, August 24, 2009

P.A. Countyside

On the Saturday we were in Baltimore, we had all day to kill before the baseball game that night. So, of course, Mike had found some dirt roads that weren't too far away in Pennsylvania. So, as if riding for 7 hours to Baltimore on a seat that the CIA could use as a torture device wasn't enough, we spent pretty much all day Saturday on the bike too.

We did find the dirt roads Mike was looking for and it was fun. I also really enjoyed the peaceful country paved roads we rode as well. I just loved the old barns out in the middle of the fields, so I snapped a few pics as we rode past.



Wednesday, August 19, 2009

4th Annual Baltimore Baseball Trip


Well, once again, we made our annual trek to Baltimore to catch a few games of a weekend series the Angel had with the Orioles. I say it every year, but I just love going to that ballpark. If you haven't been, you should. It's not too far away.

The past 3 years we've driven up on Saturday, saw the Saturday night game and Sunday afternoon game, then driven home Sunday night. That makes for a long weekend!! Well, this year, we went up on Friday, saw Friday and Saturday night games, and came home Sunday. Staying two nights makes all the difference. It was nice to get home about 4pm rather than a little before midnight.

As usual, the Angels won one and lost one. At Friday's game, there were three brothers (ages 11-6??) sitting beside me. The parent's and one grandparent sat behind them. Those boys put away the food!!! Let me recap what they ate:
  • hot dog
  • hamburger
  • nachos
  • cotton candy
  • slushy thing
  • lemon freeze thing
  • ice cream

By the end of the game, the littlest one literally could not sit still. The parent's were a little annoying in that every time a left handed batter came up, they'd say "Watch the batter!" This was important because we were first row behind the 3rd base dugout and could potentially get a line drive foul. After 9 innings of hearing that warning, the kids and I both were a bit tired of it. After Friday's game, there were fireworks. All and all, it was fun as usual.





Monday, August 17, 2009

Backwood Dirt Roads

So, as some may know, Mike has sold his Harley and bought a BMW GS. It's basically a big dirt bike. It's meant to go on and off road. Well, as a GS owner, we have a reputation to uphold as being off road adventure riders. Apparently, there are some dirt roads all throughout the NC mountains. Some of the better ones are just north of Lenior. So, we took off one Saturday after I had been working until about 3:30 (I had no idea what I was getting myself into). We head to the mountains and make our first off road excursion. It was pretty successful if you don't count the fact that we had no clue where we were or when or where the road ended. Then, to top it all off, we think we're finally at the end of the winding dirt mountain pass when we come across a tree in the road that we can't get over. We had to turn around and go the entire 25 miles back. Of course, it started to get dark and rain. But, as you can tell, we lived to blog about it.

After that adventure, Mike was invited to go with another couple to do some more off road riding two weekends ago. We started in the same area as Mike and I started but we also went to many other areas. There are dirt roads everywhere - for one, we rode up to Linville Gorge. The couple we met were really nice and were good riders. It was fun. Check out the pics...








Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Statesville Criterium

As I mentioned in the previous post, I couldn't stay long with my nieces last Friday because Mike wanted to go downtown to see the Statesville Criterium. It was a warm up event for the Charlotte Criterium that was held on Saturday. Actually, I don't think any of the 'good' riders were there on Friday. I think it was a lot of local guys. But it was still neat. They had downtown blocked off for the course. There were lots of different races. We watched a few then had dinner at a downtown restaurant. One of my favorite parts of the races was the lead car. It would fly around the corners squalling the tires.

After dinner we got a spot on the inside of the course. It was on a downhill left hand turn. You could stand right on the corner and the bikes would come flying by, real close to the corner. Some would scrape their pedals as they went by.

It was a fun night. I really enjoyed getting to spend a relaxing night with Mike. It may sound silly but we don't often go out to a restaurant and have dinner, just the two of us. It was nice!



Sunday, August 9, 2009

Cute Baby Pictures!!

I had a brief visit with my nieces on Friday after work. Susan made a last minute decision to come to Troutman to see Kathy and Virginia. I went by Kathy's house after work. I couldn't stay long because Mike wanted to go see the Statesville Criterium. Though there for only a brief time, I took lots of pictures.

Samantha had a handful of Mommy's hair...she thought it was hilarious (as did I) !!


Look at the angel face!!


Samantha is such a funny and inquisitive kid. She was lots of fun to play with.


Virginia had a bit of a love affair with the computer monitor.