Happy Memorial Day!

Adam and I got back from the beach today for a Memorial Day weekend trip...it was also biker week down there, but that in itself is another post for the future!

To be honest with you, I've only really started appreciating Memorial Day a couple of years ago. Before, it was always the question, "beach or no beach?". When we got home today, I was checking some emails and of course, my facebook, and I came across a picture that my Uncle Drenner posted of my Paw Paw in WWII:
[caption id="attachment_271" align="aligncenter" width="453" caption="On the island of Okinawa in WWII"][/caption]

Adam never got a chance to meet my Paw Paw because he died of liver cancer in 2000. My Paw Paw was a great man of honor, integrity, loyalty, kindness, generosity, and a whole bunch of other qualities. The best quality I think he possessed was his love. He loved the Lord first, his wife second, his family third, and his church next. The one that I most admire about him was his love for his wife.

My Maw Maw was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and instead of putting her in a nursing home, my Paw Paw chose to take care of her at home with the help of my Mom and her brothers. The amount of love that he showed towards my Maw Maw was undeniably sincere, even when she had no idea who he was or what he was doing in her house. The amount of strength he had to love and take care of his wife till death do them part was incredible. My Maw Maw went to be with the Lord in 1998 at their house in the early morning under a beautiful sunrise.

My favorite memory of my Paw Paw was when he would make his famous fudge for everyone at Christmas time! It was to die for! I found a recipe to try to mimic what he had made and it tasted just like it, only I can't find it anymore! He also taught me how to play "13". It's a solitare game where he told me, "you won't win but once every 20 times you play, but you have to play consecutive times and you have to shuffle about 20 times in between each time you play". Needless to say, I've only won a handful of times! When all the grandkids were little he would also dress up as Santa Claus and come to the house and let us sit on his lap to tell him what we wanted for Christmas.

I have so many good memories of my Grandparents and I am so thankful to have gotten to know them as I grew up! I will never forget my Maw Maw's smile and hearing her be called her nickname, "tootsie"! I will also never forget my Paw Paw's hugs and the way he looked at my sister and I when we would leave their house.

Thank you Paw Paw for your service in the military. I will forever be grateful! Someday soon we will meet again and have a huge family reunion with our Heavenly Father!! Until then, you both will always be in my heart!

A Bad Mouth

I have a bad mouth...no, not that way...I mean my teeth are bad! It all started yesterday when I went for my routine 6 month (maybe it's been longer than that) checkup at the dentist. A little background information...I HATE the dentist (no offense)! You know how little kids grow up with bad ears and have ear infections all the time...not me, I had a bad mouth. Ever since I can remember everytime I went to the dentist they always told me I needed to come back to get a cavity filled or something. Throughout my life, I've probably had 10 cavities, 2 root canals, two crowns, and my wisdom teeth out...no one's counting.

So, I go to the dentist yesterday expecting them to tell me, "oh, well, you have a small cavity forming, but it can wait a couple of months.", no, no, no...instead, this is how it went down:

Dental Hygenist: I think I see some cavities...let me go get the dentist.
Dentist: Oh my, you do have some cavities!
Me: (rolling my eyes)
Dentist: It looks like you have 4 cavities...2 on both sides of your mouth.
Me: (Great).
Dentist: And it also appears that you have one cavity under your crown.
Me: (thinking to myself)...how in the world do I have a cavity under a crown on a tooth that has had a root canal???
Dentist: Let me get my instrument and poke around just to make sure...(poking)...yes, there's a cavity under there alright.
Dentist: (talking to me)...we'll have to go in and remove the crown, fill the cavity, and replace the crown on that tooth.
Dentist: [Lynn] schedule her for her appts.

Man, just my luck. So, after I get all scheduled, the insurance lady tells me how this all works out...can I just say, "whoa"! Talk about some expensive visits!!

I just want to say to my Mom and Dad...and now to Adam...I'm sorry for all the mouth trouble I've caused you guys. I vow to cut back on my sugar intake and I promise to take better care of my teeth (not that I don't brush already!). Just pray that this isn't genetic!

A massive amount of sweets = lots of money
A new toothbrush/floss = $4.47
Amount of gas it took to get to the dentist = $2.78
Dentist Visit = Free
5 Cavities & a Crown = NOT Priceless!

A Face Lift

To all my readers (there maybe 5 of you) :) I've changed my blog site. I will not be posting on this particular site anymore...there's a new one.

Go here to check it out.

I will keep this up for a little bit, but I will soon be deleting this blog. If you know of anyone who reads...pass this along...I don't want to lose my readers! Anyway, hope you like the new look! It's still a work in progress, so be patient with me! See you there!

A Little Change Never Hurt Anyone...

I've changed again...ok, not me...just my blog! I have always wondered how I could convert my old blogging host to a new one. Well, I did some looking around and figured out how to do it! (I'm proud of myself...I'm almost up there in "computer saviness" with my sweet hubby)! Don't ask me why, I just wanted something different...I'm one of those people who like to change things around a lot for no particular reason(especially furniture). I will post a link from my old site to my new one, but if you know of any readers who aren't up on the times yet...pass the word along! I've made it easy on you...

old blog: www.elizabethhamilton.blogspot.com
new blog: www.elizabethhamilton.wordpress.com

Aside from all the changes, Adam and I are done with school for the year!! Wooo! We have teacher workdays until Thursday, and then Friday we leave for the beach! We officially have 88 days of relaxing and enjoying the best season of all...summer! Teaching has it's downfalls sometimes, but the advantages outweigh them by far!

Here's to a little change and a relaxing summer!!

5k...Ear Infection...Mother's Day...Graduation

Ok...a lot has happened since I've posted last! My apologies for not posting sooner, in a more consistent fashion :)!

This past Saturday, my Dad and I ran in the Beach Blast 5k in Albemarle, NC. It was a ton of fun! I grew up running races, and I haven't ran one in a while and I forgot how much fun they were! I had a blast hanging out with my Dad and my time wasn't too shabby either (26:45)! We plan on running another one June 6th in Locust, NC. Races are good to run because they keep you motivated and disciplined training for them, and you always have a good feeling of accomplishment after you finish! Here are a few pics from the Beach Blast!

This was pre-race...


Running the last stretch


My Dad and I after the race


This past week I had a cold which ended up in my ear. After the race on Saturday it was killing me so we went to the Urgent Care and they put me on anti-biotics. They've worked, but I can't hear a thing out of my left ear. It's very annoying, but I've kind of gotten used to it now.

My poor ear...


Sunday was Mother's Day and Graduation day for John Mark. My mom and I went to church Sunday morning and had the privilege of hearing Pastor's wife, Holly, speak. Go here to listen to it...great stuff! Adam and I both gave our mom's the coolest present! We got 2 baskets and filled them with some of their favorite things. My mom loves the beach (I wonder where I get that from!) so we thought it would be a good idea to fill her basket with beach stuff...which is great because we're going in 2 weeks!

Here are their baskets (my mom's is the one on the left)



Mom, I just want to tell you how much of a great mother you are! You have raised me to be the person that I am today and I can't thank anyone else but you! It's my job now to make you feel like the most special person on this earth and I love doing it! You are truly my hero and my role model and I love you with my whole heart!

After my mom and I hung out together for a couple of hours Adam, his family and I headed up to Boone to see John Mark graduate. We were so proud of him and I know his mom couldn't have had a more perfect Mother's day gift than to see her son graduate!

Here's all of us minus Adam and Amanda




Brothers...


Well, that's it...but if I'm posting all these pictures, I can't leave out the cutest one of the bunch!

She's ready for summer!



(raising my right hand)...I, Elizabeth Hamilton, do hereby promise to post a lot more frequent, consistent posts so I do not have to smush everything into one long post for my readers to get bored reading. Thanks!

5k...Ear Infection...Mother's Day...Graduation

Ok...a lot has happened since I've posted last! My apologies for not posting sooner, in a more consistent fashion :)!

This past Saturday, my Dad and I ran in the Beach Blast 5k in Albemarle, NC. It was a ton of fun! I grew up running races, and I haven't ran one in a while and I forgot how much fun they were! I had a blast hanging out with my Dad and my time wasn't too shabby either (26:45)! We plan on running another one June 6th in Locust, NC. Races are good to run because they keep you motivated and disciplined training for them, and you always have a good feeling of accomplishment after you finish! Here are a few pics from the Beach Blast!

This was pre-race...


Running the last stretch


My Dad and I after the race


This past week I had a cold which ended up in my ear. After the race on Saturday it was killing me so we went to the Urgent Care and they put me on anti-biotics. They've worked, but I can't hear a thing out of my left ear. It's very annoying, but I've kind of gotten used to it now.

My poor ear...


Sunday was Mother's Day and Graduation day for John Mark. My mom and I went to church Sunday morning and had the privilege of hearing Pastor's wife, Holly, speak. Go here to listen to it...great stuff! Adam and I both gave our mom's the coolest present! We got 2 baskets and filled them with some of their favorite things. My mom loves the beach (I wonder where I get that from!) so we thought it would be a good idea to fill her basket with beach stuff...which is great because we're going in 2 weeks!

Here are their baskets (my mom's is the one on the left)



Mom, I just want to tell you how much of a great mother you are! You have raised me to be the person that I am today and I can't thank anyone else but you! It's my job now to make you feel like the most special person on this earth and I love doing it! You are truly my hero and my role model and I love you with my whole heart!

After my mom and I hung out together for a couple of hours Adam, his family and I headed up to Boone to see John Mark graduate. We were so proud of him and I know his mom couldn't have had a more perfect Mother's day gift than to see her son graduate!

Here's all of us minus Adam and Amanda




Brothers...


Well, that's it...but if I'm posting all these pictures, I can't leave out the cutest one of the bunch!

She's ready for summer!



(raising my right hand)...I, Elizabeth Hamilton, do hereby promise to post a lot more frequent, consistent posts so I do not have to smush everything into one long post for my readers to get bored reading. Thanks!

2 are better than 1

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my sweetie! Two years ago today I married the greatest person in the world! I can't believe it has been 2 years! Adam has been everything I've ever wanted in a husband and he has definitely made all my dreams come true! Unfortunately, I am sick today, but Adam has made me feel like a princess!

It all started last night...yesterday, today, Thursday and Friday I have cheerleading tryouts for HGBCS which are from 5-7. Adam and I drove separately to school yesterday, so he went home when I stayed at the school. He knew that I started feeling bad yesterday, so he told me he'd have everything taken care of when I got home. Man, oh man! Well, it was pouring when I left school last night, so I was completely soaken, which didn't help the way I felt. I was really down in the dumps as I was driving home and having a pity party for myself. But when I got to the back door of our house, I saw a vase of flowers on the counter, candles lit, dinner ready, a completely clean house, laundry done, trash taken out, lunches made for the next day, and coffee on auto for the next morning. All that with a bad back makes my man the greatest man alive!

This morning I woke up feeling worse and didn't want to get out of bed. My straightener is terrible, so you can probably guess that I wasn't in a good about my hair (it's a girl thing). Then, here comes Adam around the corner with a card in his hands. It was the sweetest card and his words couldn't have come at a more perfect time (he told me that I was beautiful)...my hair wasn't much of a worry then. Today, we also had to drive separately to school because Adam has therapy right after. Well, the coffee didn't really turn out this morning, which was a bummer, but come to find out Adam made a surprise trip by McDonald's to get us some coffee and a biscuit! He's such a sweetie!

I teach some of the kids that he has for Spanish and they all came in today wishing us a Happy Anniversary and told me that I was all he talked about in Spanish class. I was probably blushing, but I didn't care. Then one student said, "yea Mrs. Hamilton, 2 years are better than 1"! She was exactly right! I know it's kind of Corny, but 2 years are better than 1...hence my title!

Thank you Adam for an amazing two years! You are the man of my dreams and you have totally swept me off my feet! Every girl's dream is to be a princess in a fairy tale and I can definitely say that I am living my dream! Love you hottie! Here's to many more years together as husband and wife!

PS: Adam and I are both Spanish teachers, so I can't end this post without saying, "Feliz Cinco de Mayo"!

2 are better than 1

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my sweetie! Two years ago today I married the greatest person in the world! I can't believe it has been 2 years! Adam has been everything I've ever wanted in a husband and he has definitely made all my dreams come true! Unfortunately, I am sick today, but Adam has made me feel like a princess!

It all started last night...yesterday, today, Thursday and Friday I have cheerleading tryouts for HGBCS which are from 5-7. Adam and I drove separately to school yesterday, so he went home when I stayed at the school. He knew that I started feeling bad yesterday, so he told me he'd have everything taken care of when I got home. Man, oh man! Well, it was pouring when I left school last night, so I was completely soaken, which didn't help the way I felt. I was really down in the dumps as I was driving home and having a pity party for myself. But when I got to the back door of our house, I saw a vase of flowers on the counter, candles lit, dinner ready, a completely clean house, laundry done, trash taken out, lunches made for the next day, and coffee on auto for the next morning. All that with a bad back makes my man the greatest man alive!

This morning I woke up feeling worse and didn't want to get out of bed. My straightener is terrible, so you can probably guess that I wasn't in a good about my hair (it's a girl thing). Then, here comes Adam around the corner with a card in his hands. It was the sweetest card and his words couldn't have come at a more perfect time (he told me that I was beautiful)...my hair wasn't much of a worry then. Today, we also had to drive separately to school because Adam has therapy right after. Well, the coffee didn't really turn out this morning, which was a bummer, but come to find out Adam made a surprise trip by McDonald's to get us some coffee and a biscuit! He's such a sweetie!

I teach some of the kids that he has for Spanish and they all came in today wishing us a Happy Anniversary and told me that I was all he talked about in Spanish class. I was probably blushing, but I didn't care. Then one student said, "yea Mrs. Hamilton, 2 years are better than 1"! She was exactly right! I know it's kind of Corny, but 2 years are better than 1...hence my title!

Thank you Adam for an amazing two years! You are the man of my dreams and you have totally swept me off my feet! Every girl's dream is to be a princess in a fairy tale and I can definitely say that I am living my dream! Love you hottie! Here's to many more years together as husband and wife!

PS: Adam and I are both Spanish teachers, so I can't end this post without saying, "Feliz Cinco de Mayo"!