Christmas Time

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Our family has been hit with our first Florida cold since our arrival. Yes, apparently germs run rather rampant down here and they seem to be very common.

We know our lack of blogging has kept you from returning regularly, but we hope to start this up regularly again. Commenting always helps us to know that we aren't just talking to ourselves out loud.

Check back later for pics of recent stuff including...Jason singing at Epcot, The Office Christmas party at the Zoo, the trip Terri and Heather took over the Skyway, Oktoberfest, Halloween, Downtown Disney and MORE!

All righty then!

So, apparently while the midwest is getting rewarded with VERY low gas prices, those in the outlying areas are still not quite there.

I do have to say though that one of the coolest maps I have ever seen is on gasbuddy.com they will show you with color how much you can expect to pay wherever you are!

This weekend, not much happened at the Carrier household.

Friday evening and Saturday morning Terri and Riley spent their time at a Marriage Seminar K.I.S.S. Keep It Simply Simple...it was held at the church and apparently it was a lot of fun. I will try and get Terri to write a tidbit about it!

Saturday evening the girls spent their time cleaning and organizing the craft room. It was a disaster and there was no creating being done due to the mess :(


Sunday after church we (the adults) attended some sort of getting to know GCC and how to get plugged in. It was ok...learned some things!

Have a good week guys!

GAS - $3.16 per Gallon!!!!!!

That's right, today during my lunch hour I needed to go fill up my new SUV...However, I didn't feel the sting that those of you paying over 3.50 a gallon are!

Dad and I headed to get gas and went down a street that dad said should have a gas station on it. The CASH price was 3.16 and we were like that can't be right...we turned around and went to investigate.

After waiting what seemed like forever I pulled up to the pump, while he went inside to pay. He asked the lady and she said that's what corporate set it at this morning.

So needledd to say, instead of a fill up costing me over $60 it only cost me $44 today...and I even got cash back!

Ahhhh...

I don't know how life is for you, but it really is a lot of work to keep this thing up and this is usually the first thing to go when things get CRAZY!!!

I am working on putting together a slideshow from our trip to the beach. Cute pics of Boomer in the water, some lovely pics of the sky and some other random pics.

While Melissa was here there was a lot of stuff to do and not a lot of sleep.

Saturday we went to the beach and Melissa and myself got burnt, so did Jason. I am still peeling in places! Then we came home, got ready and headed out to Clearwater beach for Sunsets at Pier 60 a nice little arts and crafts fair that is literally on the pier. We were there when it was hoppin and we (the girls) bought some jewelry. We also got to take her to my favorite place, Tijuana Flats a Florida original that we wanted her to try.

Sunday, Melissa got to see where we have been going to church and listen to our fabulous preacher. After church we went to The Crab Shack which is right on the water...a river that runs through Port Richey. It was very authentic, inside was under a roof....but not enclosed:) Food was delicious and they had a full service bar.


That evening we grilled out, tried grilling some shrimp, it was ok...definitely going to have to work on it!

On Monday, we took her to Moe Mondays...things are a little bit cheaper. When referring to Moe's, think of Atomic Burrito. Delish:) One of Dad's favorite places!

Some other things that have been happening...

Mom and I have both fallen in the shower once over the past few days., so keep us in your prayers as we battle the bruises and the pain!

I did get a vehicle, a 2003 Ford Explorer Sport...a vehicle I have wanted since they came out when i Graduated...so, that's fun!

Need to get to bed now, if you see that this hasn't been updated, please email us!

Melissa is going to be here at midnight tonight!!!

And we are all soooo excited!

We will keep you up to date with what is going to happen this weekend. Look for it tonight!

What are we doing???

With the house pretty much SOLD :) We are starting to pursue the next step of finding and purchasing a NEW HOME!!! That is exciting and stressful at the same time. It's difficult to find what you want all in one place...you like this here and that at the other house, you know?

Jason had his first choreography camp today! He loved it!!! But don't tell him I told you that, LOL! He was showing us this evening...and he really is a GREAT dancer. He apparently has a nickname at school, but I won't get into that! Jason spent last weekend at Rock the Universe, and had a BLAST!!! He also led worship at service last night, and we are just soooo proud of him!

Heather is still doing very well at her job, according to her supervisors and those that have been showing her what to do. She IS also, still liking it! She is also making new friends in the workplace, so she is SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited about that, couldn't stress that enough. She also went to the "young" adults meeting/activity on Sunday night and met some new faces from church. She will start attending a small/core group on Sunday evenings every other Sunday with these people!

Terri has enjoyed having her vehicle back this week so she can drive herself to and from school(work)! Heather had it to go to and from until she started working with Riley. She also kinda has the TV to herself, which she is enjoying:)

Riley has had to adjust his schedule at work to accommodate her hours, but that is working out so far! They went to eat at a local fish place just around the corner from work and had the fish and chips...it was mahi mahi today, and delish as Jason would say! Although, apparently a bit on the pricey side. Also at work, they apparently have unofficial Chinese Wednesdays at work...which is YUMMY!

Melissa gets here in 8 days!!! Could we BE more excited?!? Pray for her flight, this will be the first time she flies alone!

thats all the info I have for now! See you when I see you!

Has it really been that LONG?!?

I cannot believe how LOOOOONG it has been! Apologies for the interruption. A LOT has been going on since we last spoke. Heather got a job at JoAnn's as a cashier...part time. It was okay until she felt the repercussions of the first few days. Long hours standing on her feet, back hurting...it was then that she realized she wasn't necessarily cut out for retail!

Below we have a funny picture :) On a recent trip to Wal-Mart our family formed a "cart train"!!! We each had one and took them into Wal-Mart with us! We thought it was funny!

This is a picture of our FaBulous centerpiece that is sitting on our Living Room table. She is a part of a group of ladies participating in weekly projects. This week it was altering candle holders to put on your table! You can visit the Sassy Affair site here. You might have to sign in as a guest, but she is also posting her projects on HER blog here. She has the previous week as well as some more picture(s).
This was ONE of her projects from last week. She made a trick-or-treat basket for a Pumpkin Princess. Could be used as a candy holder for your desk or whatever you find a use for. She is selling it at her etsy site.
On many occasions Jason and Riley can be found watching television on our new TV. The ONLY tv in the house right now. Surprisingly it has been working out rather well. Although, it will be nice when we can all watch something differently...

WHAT ELSE??? Heather was able to quit her job for a Full Time position at Ocean Optics working as a Receptionist. She is very excited for this job opportunity and to have a regular work schedule and to be off on the weekends!!!

THE BEST NEWS YET...We have pretty much sold the house! Without any major findings upon final inspection, the house should close in a couple weeks!

Only two weeks until Melissa gets here!!! Hopefully this will be updated a little bit more regularly from now on. If you read this and find it hasn't been updated in a while...call us or email us and let us know!
We miss all of you and can't wait to see visitors!

Melissa's Coming!!!

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention, that In exactly one month from today, she will be arriving from Omaha! We can't wait for her to get here, and look forward to her safe arrival! She'll get in around midnight and stay until noon Tuesday. We'll go the beach, go shopping and she'll visit local colleges that offer culinary!

So far so good...

All we received in reference to Fay is a bunch of rain! Schools were closed today, though and so were city and government offices, which includes the trash and stuff. I believe they are watching for another storm on it's way! So, keep updated on that!

HURRICANE FAY...and pics!

Yes, at this time it is all over the news. We are not not do we believe that we shall have to evacuate. Our evacuation level is E if you are following that at all! We are preparing though, and schools have been canceled here, so Jason's first day will be delayed! Just wanted to update everyone rather quickly! Check back to see how it went!

Oh yeah, and Jason got his Chuck Taylors all black, because those are the BEST! And I will post a pic of him in those later!

Here are some pics from the weekend!

Went to the commissary and bought some tropical fruit...delish!

Even though he hates his pic being taken, it has to happen sometime!

These little lizards (not always little) are EVERYWHERE!!!

Check back later to see what progresses!

Been a while...

Things have been rather hectic here at the Carrier household. After Terri got her job, she realized she had about a week to get ready to teach a whole new curriculum to a whole new grade, so on and so forth! I have been helping her at school and at home, and things still aren't ready! She did have Meet Your Teacher on Friday and that went really well!

Saturday, we thought we'd try something local...they had been advertising a Greek Wine Fest in Tarpon Springs...sounds good, food and wine...hopefully free and lots of fun stuff to do. Well, it was the equivilant of a few tents, some loud music and wine and food you had to pay for. And we had to pay for parking! Didn't stay very long, headed back home to watch a movie!

Today, we headed to the beaches after dad and Jason had to fix the Escape. Yep, the battery...only two year old, has had some tough times according to the auto shop guy. We went to two beaches in Tarpon Springs, one Sunset Beach, wasn't crowded at all, small, but perfect to lay out or picnic! The other one Howard Park, was a fairly large beach with quite a crowd. And it will be closed for about a year starting Sept. 2, 2008! So we only have a few days to take advantage of it...and it allows pets! I can't wait to take Boomer! We're thinking about going back there to picnic tomorrow night with Boomer! I will post pics when I have more time tomorrow...hoping to hear about a job interview I had last week and they went on vaca right afterward!

Family movie tonight is Fools Gold, Oh YEAH!!! We also went and saw The Dark Knight last night, it was AWESOME!!! Got me thinking about who the next villain will be, I'll post more about that later, let me know what you think!

Busy, busy Saturday

This morning mom and I headed out to Office Depot, which is only a few minutes away, BTW, for their annual Teacher Appreciation Festivities.



Did you check out our goodies, I mean seriously, JACKPOT. My favorite was the unexpected scrapbooking wonder that is the Glue Dots Package, I mean they must know our secret walk of shame! Anyways, they opened their doors at 9:00 a.m. and we got there at like 8:40 or so, and there were already lady teachers there! It was kinda like showing up at a scrapbooking store for a sale/Pink Saturday and/or Black Friday! They also treated us to breakfast provided by Burger King, Starbucks and McDonalds. YUMMY!!! And sooo not good for us! But we did include Orange juice, so it's all good! While we were there I found a pink external drive, I called dad and he was like "oh really"?!? Funny man!

Dad had to work ALL day today, he didn't get home until 7:30 or so. Mom and I spent most of the day running around. We hit two Teacher Supply stores, that was okay. We also went to a Dog Lovers store, because you know we love our Beagle!!! Found a perfect rug for his bowls, matches the other rugs in the living room!

Our last major event of the day was a bike ride. Fun, fun...especially when Heather doesn't know the rules of the road and almost runs mom off :)

Have a good Sunday!

Pics

LOL!!! So this is how dad has been grilling out for the past several months while he was living here. He thought he'd show off his skills and cook us dinner on Monday night, hence his arm looks normal! We are currently seeking a much larger grill :)

Now this is how you live, huh?!? For the first two weeks we were here, we looked high and low for some nice, comfortable, color coordinating couches. While we were searching high and low, we had to endure and enjoy our entertainment via our "white trash," as Joey and Chandler put it on Friends when they had to do it, living room set!

Here's Jason sporting the fashionable chair that is done in the traditional Magenta water-resistant material!
So, doesn't this just look delish?!? This is what my dinner and dads dinner looked like, all nice and forming a pyramid! Yummy, yummy, yummy! I can't wait to eat lunch today, I had quite the left overs, it was a lot of food!

And here's mom and dad, not only enjoying their dinner, but pointing out dad's nice boo-boo! It's healing rather nicely!
And here are the "kids", I think I am trying to decide how best to disassemble it! And Jason is oogling my food, and wishing he had my plate!

Then we headed to the beach, remember. Well, ocean pics are boring, everybody has seen those and we didn't get some good ones at this beach, so those will have to come next time. But, I found this really cool foot print. Leave a comment and see if you see what I see, I'll comment ina couple days what I saw!!!


We miss you guys terribly and can't wait to see your smiling faces when you find the time to visit us! Let us know if there is anything we can do that you can live vicariously through us!

Bayside Adventures

This evening we went to celebrate Moms new job with a wonderful at a local seafood restaurant. Rusty Bellies is tucked back at the end of Dodecanese Blvd. in Tarpon Springs. They have an outside patio deck overlooking the water. However, due to the rather warm weather today, and the wonderful air conditioner we experienced when we stepped inside, we opted to eat our meal indoors. It was an expensive dinner, but it was delish, as Jason would say! In fact he had a first for the Chef, a crabcake sandwich/burger with bacon and cheese. I tried it, it was ok... I had ______ (I can't remember the name right now)...but it consisted of shrimp and scallops on Skewers, and Fresh Catch, which today was Mahi, Mahi; Talapia and two others that of course, I can't remember. It tasted good, and doesn't it look pretty! Dad had the same with Mahi, Mahi and of course, mom had an non-fish dish that included chicken! Bless her heart for humoring us though!

Then it was time for our first trip to the beach since we've been here. We headed to a beach that was part of a state park, not very crowded and had a lot of shade. Definite A++ when looking for a nice spot to lay for a day! We only stayed for a little while, but I can't wait to spend a lazy Saturday at the beach...
Sooo...right now, we are having technical difficulties. The pictures I have been talking about and/or wanted to post from this evenings adventures are stuck on the camera...no cord to retrieve them...still packed away from the move for moms purse camera. So, I will hopefully be able to post them tomorrow or this weekend, sometime!

In other news, Heather has an interview/meeting with a marketing department, you can read more about that at her blog, and hopefully she will be posting about how it goes afterwards!

Terri got a J - O - B...

Yep...she received the call a little before lunch today. As of right now she is signing papers to be a 4th grade teacher at a Christian School, located and in conjunction with Generations Christian Church, the church we have been attending. She was doing her HAPPY dance, and jumping up and down!!!

We are definitely going to celebrate tonight, hopefully we'll go see The Dark Knight...I know, I know...we're like the only people in the world that haven't seen it. But, seriously, we have been a little busy. Here are some pics of the outside of our house, working on cleaning up the inside.


Now she is headed to get a drug test, I don't know that she has ever had to do that : ) and the stamps for the Change of Address Cards so we can send them out to all of you! Here's what they look like, Simple, but I really like them. Although, I could be a little biased!

WELCOME...

Hi Everybody,

So, you received our postcard did you?!? Well it's about time, seeing as how we didn't even get them sent out until we had already been here over two weeks! But things take time, don't they!

I could go back and start at the beginning right now, but I won't. I will start with the happenings of Sunday, Monday and today.

Sunday:
- We attended Generations Christian Church in Tarpon Springs for the 3rd time in a row. It really seems to be a great church, awesome music, GREAT preacher(s) (I have been in tears every Sunday) and a lot of involvement opportunities. Jason has been playing with their youth band for two Sundays in a row now, playing the keyboard last Sunday and the Bass guitar this Sunday.

Monday:
- Evening, dad and Jason headed out onto the Pinellas Trail which is right outside our neighborhood to go biking. On their way back, apparently dad thought he would try and pass Jason on the trail and ended up crashing his new bike! He has a nasty scrape on his right elbow and mom had to get his bike fixed up, it will be ready Thursday!
- The air conditioner seemed to quit working and the A/C guy headed out to our house while they were gone, it was really HOT. Apparently he helped it a little, he'll be back tomorrow!

Today/Tuesday:
- Not much happening on the home front. we're going to be working on the Change of Address cards for all of you! Sooo exciting! I will get back on here with pics SOON!!!
- The A/C guy came again, it works REAL nice!

BTW (by the way) This post was by Heather and I could possibly be the unofficial blogger here in Florida!