The Sweet Family

Another weekend gone . .

2009-06-29T06:21:00.001-06:00

Geez, where is the time going? June is adios!

Kristin has to get all four wisdom teeth cut out on Friday so we will be taking it easy this holiday weekend. My poor baby!

JD and Matt will be going to the monster truck show here in the NRV at the Shelor Motor Mile Speedway http://www.motormilespeedway.com/. JD's dad and friend of the family Robert and son will be coming down on Friday to spend the weekend with us and attend the Monster Truck show. Kristin and I are going to stay home and take it easy, however, I will probably be taking it easy while mowing, gardening, baking, cleaning, laundry, etc...

This past weekend I made a scrumptious cole slaw. Everything was from my garden. It truly makes me feel so accomplished when I can use my veggies for such goodness! I also made a blueberry pie from my berry bushes as well.

I am looking for some good recipes for Blueberries (cakes, cupcakes, etc...) and Raspberries (cakes, cupcakes, etc...) if anyone has any they would like to share!

I so feel like Martha Stewart it isn't even funny.

I picked green beans for the first time this weekend and have a crock pot of them cooking as I type this with a big ham hock in them! I am so pumped for them when I get home - yummy!

We also had fried squash last night (Thanks to Kristin and her wonderful talent of cooking fried squash). Good ole country cooking!!!

Gardening = Happiness for me!

Gardening 101

2009-06-19T09:57:00.005-06:00

Our garden seems to be flourishing with all of this rain, however, a little sunshine now and then sure would be nice.

Here are some of my proudest moments . . .

The green cabbage leave are absolutely huge. I really wish you could see how big they are. Maybe I will put someone next to it for perspective because it is just amazing the size!

This tomato plant is taller than me and I am 5 ft. 2". I know, its a shortie!

Here are the grapes growing!

Look what is living in my grapevine.

Work and more work . .

2009-06-08T13:30:00.006-06:00

OK, I have been neglecting my blog for quite some time. I am not doing it intentionally, however, between work (the one that pays) and my work at home, I have no time for anything else. Well, except for Facebook ~ my new love! I am totally addicted to facebook. As some of you may know, I am so nosy and it really does fuel my nosiness.

A couple weeks ago, JD and I put new mulch around the pond. It really needed this facelift!

Oh look, Kristin helping with the Mulch. We took a picture because she never helps with the yardwork! She was using her feet to push the mulch down...yea, not a big help!

My daughter growing up. YIKES!!!

Kristin taking pictures of the sky. . . . actually I thought this was simply beautiful.

Over the weekend, I got a nice burn thanks to over 6 hours of mowing on Saturday. On Sunday, JD and I spent some quality time in the garden. I picked peas, more radishes (the size of a plum), spring onions and a 5 gallon bucket of lettuce. Thanks to the wildlife netting fence we put up, the deer are staying out and our garden looks so plentiful!!! Look out canner, here I come!

This weekend we have JD's Dad, two sisters and two nephews and a niece coming to spend the weekend with us. I hope it doesn't rain!!! I really don't know what we will all do as there isn't a whole lot here to do. Oh well, we will spend some quality time visiting!

I hope everyone is doing well!!!

Random yard pics

2009-05-20T14:52:00.003-06:00

Here is a pic of the first part of our pond with the blue colorant in it. I have spent so much time placing and replacing rocks all over. Next step (if we can get a rain free weekend) weeding and mulching!

Grapevine to the left and blueberries in front. See the garden to the left? I hope to get some good pics of it this weekend. Again, if I can get outside and not have to tiptoe through the raindrops.

Our new pet . . . NOT

2009-05-20T14:44:00.003-06:00

My husband and I have a wildlife camera and a deer feeder that we enjoy so much as it shows us the deer that live on our property and how they evolve in life. Right now, there are two doe's that are preggars and ready to drop at any time so having this camera allows us to see when these oh so proud mama's begin sharing their babies with nature. However, we seem to have a little problem with our feeder right now as our new pet has officially ripped the feeder down and mangled it. The camera is still up and we are hoping that this stupid bear hasn't ruined the feeding schedule of mama bring out her new babies. I hope we get some good shots of them!

2009-05-08T11:22:00.002-06:00

Enjoy your mothers day weekend!!!

"M" is for the million things she gave me,

"O" means only that she's growing old,

"T" is for the tears she shed to save me,

"H" is for her heart of purest gold;

"E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining,

"R" means right, and right she'll always be,Put them all together, they spell

M - O - T - H - E - R

Grow ~ Plants ~ Grow

2009-05-01T14:47:00.004-06:00

JD and I have gotten everything planted in the garden.

50 Pepper plants (mixture)

36 Tomato plants (mixture)

Onions, Radishes, 2 types of lettuce, Sweet Corn, Popcorn, Peas, Navy beans, Green beans, potatoes, squash, zucchini, pickler cucumbers and cucumbers

whew. . . I think thats it.

It is so fun to see vegetation breaking through the soil yearning for some good ole' sunshine. Whoops, wait a minute . . . what sunshine? Hopefully we will see some soon.

On another note, after the loss of my MIL, my work was so thoughtful. They sent a huge peace lilly to the funeral home which we managed to bring home and the location I work at bought us four strawberry plants and a peach tree. I feel so lucky to be working with such great people!

Yes, I am starting to really enjoy living in Southwest VA.

Thanks again to everyone for their kind words and prayers during our families recent loss. You all are very special to us!!!

You will be sadly missed!

2009-04-20T07:02:00.004-06:00

JD's mother, my mother in law, just lost her battle with Cancer. She fought this as hard as she could only it was too strong for her frail body to handle. She will be missed by us all. We love you,

Marjory Baker Sweet

When I Must Leave You

"When I must leave you for a little while
Please do not grieve and shed wild tears
And hug your sorrow to you through the years.
But start out bravely with a gallant smile;
And for my sake and in my name
Live on and do all things the same,
Feed not your loneliness on empty days,
But fill each waking hour in useful ways,
Reach out your hand in comfort and in cheer
And I in turn will comfort you And hold you near;
And never, never be afraid to die,
For I am waiting for you in the sky!"

~Author Unknown

April 16 ~

2009-04-16T07:54:00.002-06:00

The Sweet Family will never forget April 16, 2007.

God Bless you all.

http://www.weremember.vt.edu/index.html

Life's little Milestones

2009-04-13T07:42:00.008-06:00

Happy "SWEET" 16th Birthday

Matthew David Sweet

We love you (even though you like WVU)

(Matt continally entertaining us. The 3D glasses we got when we went to see My Bloody Valentine)

Happy Easter!

2009-04-09T14:54:00.004-06:00

The Sweets' are traveling to Winchester for Easter so I hope to blog tons of stuff next week.

I haven't had much time to post as work is kicking my tail end these days. Plus, we really haven't had anything exciting going on.

Everyone be safe and enjoy!!!

Love,

JD, Amy, Matt and Kristin

Cassell Bound - 'edited'

2009-03-20T12:04:00.002-06:00

We went to Cassell stadium to see the Hokies play the Baylor Bears. Unfortunately, the Hokies suffered a brutal loss to the Bears.

This was the first every basketball game I have been to and I must say, it won't be the last. We had the best time. We sat 9 rows from the court and were right behind the Hokies!!! I was PUMPED. I also got a great seat where I could stare at AD Vassallo http://www.hokiesports.com/mbasketball/players/2008/vassallo.html). It was also sad to see him leave the court since he is a Senior. I guess I need to find a new fav. The best part was the tickets were only $15.00 each. We even made Matt go. (yes, he was suffering wearing his burgundy nike shirt . no HOKIE gear).

After the game, we headed over the Bull & Bones http://www.bullandbones.com/ for a late lunch. This place has the best food ever!!! . As we were leaving, we noticed that they are building another restaurant that we will MOST CERTAINLY be visiting; Beamers (Frank Beamer's Restaurant) when it opens!

Once we got home, we began putting up the fence around the garden and finished it on Sunday. It took no time at all and we think this may be a good start to keeping out those varmits!

~ Happy Spring ~

2009-03-20T06:30:00.001-06:00

Matt's early 16th Birthday Present

2009-03-19T06:36:00.004-06:00

Matt and his car! We got this car at such a great deal and couldn't pass it up. Since Matt doesn't get his licence until around August, I will be driving the car back and forth to work.

It is a 5-speed Ford Excort coupe and we really thought he would have a lot of trouble driving, but after about 5 minutes, he was doing pretty well.

His first thing is to "pimp it out" WVU style.

Changes

2009-03-18T07:00:00.001-06:00

And its time to change it's time to rearrange . . . (Song from the Brady Bunch when Peter's voice is changing)

I decided to finally change my blog page to my new header that I so graciously got the site from Katie for created blog headers; however, I cannot find the info on the lady that did this for me so if anyone reading this knows her website, please let me know so I can link her.

Let me know what you think!

Exciting things to come: Matt and his early B'day present

What's going on?

2009-03-16T13:59:00.006-06:00

The Sweet Family hasn't been doing too awlful much lately.

We have been enjoying the sprouting of Spring life from all of our gardens.

We have been working around our pond due to noticing it is not holding water. We put in a new pump, however, it only stays at a certain level. After JD spending numerous hours looking around the perimeter of the tubs, etc... he finally found the leak and has fixed it on Friday before the weekend rain. Now the pond is holding water! Good thing too as I was ready to bulldoze it in!

The frogs are enjoying it as well as I hear them in it every evening singing their mating tunes. UGH...

We have also been working on a fence around the garden in order to keep the deer from snacking on our plants again. Last year I think they envisioned this HUGE salad. Therefore, after researching some fences on the web, we have recreated a fence that costed us $160.00 at Lowe's. (The websites I researched all wanted about $1,000.00 for a fence for the size of our garden (and that is downsizing immensely). Crazy I know. However, THRIFTY on our part!!!

Once it is done, I will share pics in case anyone would like to replicate the idea.

Snow much fun!!!

2009-03-03T13:36:00.005-05:00

Here are some pics of the Sweet Family playing in the snow on Sunday, March 1.

(I finally got to use my Snowman building kit that my mom got me well over 5 years ago)

Tonight, tonight!

2009-02-12T11:30:00.002-05:00

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/

~ Daddy's Girl ~

2009-02-09T10:13:00.007-05:00

JD and Kristin went to see the Hokies beat NC State on Sunday, February 8, 2009.

We could only get two tickets so I felt JD and Kristin should go. I stayed home and watched it on tv with Matt rooting for the Wolf Pack. However, the Hokies came back and beat NC State in overtime! It was truly a nailbiter.

Here are some pics of JD and Kris leaving for the game!

Here they are coming home!

Worth Signing up for!

2009-02-04T10:04:00.001-05:00

Be on the lookout for future offers.Thank you for registering for the Escape from Winter Gift Pack offer. The first 10,000* registrants only will receive a Glade® PlugIns® Scented Oil warmer along with a Hawaiian Breeze® refill and a Glade® coupon!Gift packs will be mailed by April 15, 2009.We used the information in your Right@Home™ Membership Profile to register you for a chance for a free gift pack.

You can view or make changes to your profile at any time.If you're not the original recipient of this offer email but would like to receive offers from SC Johnson directly, sign up here.

Terms and conditionsFirst 10,000 people to respond will receive an Escape from Winter Gift Pack. For your chance to receive a gift pack, your registration must be received by February 27, 2009, 11:59:59 p.m. Central Time (CT). Offer available to U.S. residents only. Gift packs available until February 27, 2009, or while supplies last. Only 10,000 gift packs available. Limit: one (1) gift pack per household/address. S.C. Johnson is not liable for any typographical errors in the offer or any illegible, lost, late, damaged, separated, misdirected, incomplete, stolen or nondelivered email or redemption requests. Gift packs will be mailed by April 15, 2009. Gift pack offers are available to Right@Home™ members only. If you have won a gift pack from Right@Home™ in the last 180 days, you are not eligible for this month’s offer.

Gotta get caught up!

2009-01-21T20:00:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe that I have totally sucked at blogging this month. I totally forgot to mention my family birthdays which I feel like crap about. Therefore . . .

Jan 1: Happy Birthday Kelby!!!

Jan 13: Happy Birthday Danukus!!!

We love you both and are very sorry I forgot to call and showcase your big days!!!

Also, CONGRATULATIONS Kelby for making the FCMS V-Ball Team! I wish I could be there to see you play.

JD and I took the kids to the movies this past Saturday to see My Bloody Valentine 3D. It was a great movie; I was pleasantly surprised. However, my biggest surprise was not the movie but the price. A matinee price (because I am to chicken shit to go at night) is $5.00 per person but because it is 3D, they add another $3.50. Thats fine but shouldn't that be something that is advertised with the movie. Like a caption "Prices may vary due to 3D viewing". Funny thing about those 3D glasses, everyone in the theatre was taking pictures of each other in these things. I will have to post the pic I took of Matt at home after the movie with them on. He is such a dork!

Unfortunately on Sunday, I was sick. I had this gawd awlful stomach bug that caused me to lose 2 lbs. I actually did not go to work on Monday and slept all day. Luckily I am starting to feel more like myself!

The kids have been off all week due to the "threat" of snow. My kids have missed a total of 9 snow days from this school year. Yes, I said 9. They now have 4 days to make up. Can anyone say "Goodbye Spring Break!"

I forgot to poston January 16 that I celebrated 3 years smoke free. For me, this is a huge accomplishment that I am extremely proud of! My son kept telling me how proud he was of me. too funny!

Congratulations

Barack H. Obama

44th President of the United States

Christmas Pics

2009-01-09T09:13:00.010-05:00

To reiterate on a previous post, our trip to Winchester was FANTASTIC – AMAZING – WONDERFUL – I could keep going, really. It was a visit that I truly was in dire need of! We took the dogs for the visit as well. Here is a pic of Matt entertaining Stewart and Max enjoying the road trip.

Matt and Kristin together in a picture smiling not fighting? Priceless!

While catching up with my family, I sat somewhat mesmerized by the noticeable aging of my family. I felt somewhat left out; out of the loop of what was going on while I am living away from everyone. Like the weekly phone calls are not enough.

Here are a few pics of the kids and their Christmas. Matt had a very Mountaineer Christmas. From his WVU fathead to his WVU flat billed hat.

Kristin on the other hand was all about the boots with the fur and clothes. She also managed to snag three more SIMS computer games.

Also are some pics of Christmas at the Sweets’. Kristin is holding JD’s mom and dads jack Russell Queenie and our Stewart. (they came from the same breeder and we call them bro and sis however, it is obvious they aren’t from the same litter).

JD and I really didn’t exchange gifts as our love is all we need….hehehe. However, we did give the kids our debit card and let them buy us gifts. YES, they were given a limit and they both did fantastic! JD was spoiled with Virginia Tech t-shirts and Armani cologne. I got a snowman snow globe, Victoria secret lotions, perfumes, and my Tyrod Taylor Jersey!!!!

I absolutely love the holidays but am a little glad when it is over. With the unexpected loss of my Grandmother and more travel, I was worn out.

NOW, lets see some SNOW!!! Speaking of SNOW, we got an inch on Thursday and I made a little snowman while I was out with the dogs. Now, isn’t that the cutest snowman ever?

The kids were laughing at him all day while they were home from school; again! (I think this is 5 days missed this school year).

Holiday Recap

2008-12-31T13:18:00.005-05:00

Well folks, this Christmas holiday started out with promise. We traveled to Winchester and had a fantastic time. The weekend flew by but we really enjoyed ourselves. The kids had a great time and really enjoyed everything they got. (of course, they knew half of it). I will post pics later.

Unfortunately, I received a phone call Christmas Day (9am) from my mother informing me my Grandmother passed away. The kids and I traveled back to Winchester on Monday morning and arrived back home on Tuesday evening. It was back to work Wednesday then off again for New Years on Thursday and Friday!

JD and I really didn't get to celebrate our 18th Wedding Anniversary on Monday however, we did manage to go out to dinner last Saturday.

To all of my blogger friends:

Have a safe and Happy New Year!!!

~Happy Holidays~

2008-12-19T14:21:00.004-05:00

Since we are traveling this weekend to Winchester and I am off from work ALL NEXT WEEK (WOO HOO), I will not be touching a computer the entire time I am off. (I work on a computer at a computer company)

Happy Holidays

from our Family

to yours!!!

A fugitive no more!!!

2008-12-19T14:18:00.001-05:00

http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/new_river_valley/article/douglas_jaccard_caught_court_appearance_friday_morning/23363/