First Night Raleigh

The view behind us! See the State Capital?

My brother Jason!

PDA! ♥

A group {of six...} of us bought the buttons for VIP access to the barricaded area & the best "seats" in the house and rang in the new year on Fayetteville Street!

{I had intended for this to be my first Wordless Wednesday post... there's always next week!}

Very Merry Virginia

{This post should have been included with all of my "Very Merry" Christmas posts, but I just found the pictures!} Our visit to my Daddy & Karlene's farm!

Rambo {with his orange scarf is so hunters do not shoot him!}

Perry, Rambo & Kar playing frisbee

He's a jumper. Don't have a frisbee? He'll settle for a big snowball!

Perry & Dad working with the bulls!

While the guys corralled the bulls & loaded those big bad boys on a trailer and drove them down the road to another part of the farm {and bonded over a can of ice cold beer}, Karlene & I went for a walk with Rambo. On our way back, Rambo's nose found a particular spot in the grass and just couldn't get enough! Karlene wiped her work-gloved finger through what we thought was blood {no big deal to her, but ew}. Yep, 'twas blood. We trekked through the brush along side of the field in search of more blood/tracks/an injured or dead animal, but didn't find anything. Kar suspected someone shot a deer from the road {apparently this has been an issue; my Dad doesn't mind hunters using his other properties with permission but this one he wants to be a "safe zone" for their future home site & all}.

As we were walking away, I noticed tire tracks that just "stopped". From the point where it ended back to the blood spot in the grass was approximately the size of a truck! My Dad was not happy to hear that someone drove onto his land, loaded up a deer they shot into the bed of their truck, and backed-up outta there. Don't mess with my Daddy!

I took pictures of the evidence to show Dad that night

Karlene made a delicious squash casserole {with (frozen) yellow squash from their garden!} and mac 'n cheese, and Dad grilled steaks! We watched:

and had a great time just visiting since we don't get up to see them as often as we'd like!

HVAC

We have NEW HVAC! {= heating, ventilation, and air conditioning} Perry & I were blessed with the means to upgrade our seriously outdated heat & air stuff, praise God. The ducts were probably original to the house- which was built in 1955- and the heat pump & AC unit were approaching "their time" too. After getting an absurd amount of estimates, Perry settled on a company he liked the best but did not offer the lowest price. He called them back, named the amount (that another company had quoted us), and said we'd sign the contract immediately. It never hurts to ask! They snatched it right up. Air Experts tore out all of the disintegrating, duct-taped, really truly nasty old duct work and replaced it with shiny new, highly efficient, mold and mildew resistant R-8 flex duct. They replaced the old furnace that was on the far left side of our crawl space with a new one in a more central location so it evenly heats the house {our bedroom & office on the opposite side of the house used to be so cold!}. They installed a new AC unit, too.

-OLD DUCTS-

Ew.

-NEW DUCTS-

Something similar to these

-OLD AC UNIT-

-NEW AC UNIT-

The crew changed out a return in our dining room to a larger 20x25" with a filter! I can actually change it now, as before it was under the house... somewhere. And lastly they added a 2nd vent in the kitchen for better air flow and a new thermostat like this one:

Perry & I have a thing for energy efficiency. We can already tell a huge difference, but are eager to see how our bills change in the summer and next winter! Holy shamoly our gas bill was outrageous in December.

Very Merry Monday

The next day (2 days after Christmas) Perry & I went to Concord with his parents to visit my sister-in-law Cassy & family. It was awesome to witness the girls' energy and excitement about Christmas! We. love. them.

Uncle P ♥'s his nieces

Emily

"Little Lauren"

"Big Lauren"

Silly faces with Aunt Lew! 
{Concerning fact: my left eyeball seems to like turning inward... 
it won't really get stuck like that, right?}

I have never written about my bestie Sayra {no, she doesn't really spell her name like that. It's Sara, but I've said "Say-ra" since high school}. She is AWESOME! One night she shared a yummy meal of taco soup & cornbread, paired with salad, with me & Perry. Then we improvised with what I had in the kitchen and made a sad-looking strange-colored Christmas tree cake. My excuse is that we didn't have the proper supplies *wink*. It was still fun & yummy.

Cute little guy... almonds from Sara Almond, of course!!

Perry & I also visited my Dad & Karlene in Virginia before Christmas {pictures to come... once I find them}. What a wonderful, glorious Christmas we had filled with family & friends, warmth & laughter!!! "An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'" {Luke 2:9-12}