Food, Fellowship, and Friends

Laying out by the pool, Happy Hour Runs to Sonic, making homemade ice cream, staying up late (because we still haven't gotten adjusted to the time change) and sleeping in are just some of the many perks of summer vacation.  We have enjoyed EVERY single bit one of them.  Summer is quickly coming to a close and we are anxiously awaiting the new adventure that will begin in August... classes at Southeastern. Aaron's got his classes in his cart, I'm already signed up for mine, and we are waiting for registration to open.

Along with all of the fun summer activities we have also had the opportunity to visit churches in the area... in search of the church for us.  We recently visited The Summit, North Raleigh Campus, and realized that half of the University of Mobile attends there.  We have been reunited with old friends, which is such a comfort when looking for a place to serve and worship.

*side note: We are hoping that we will actually hear the "real" pastor this Sunday, since for the past two Sundays he has been out of town.

Last Sunday, I spent the evening with a group of girls who all attended UM.  What a wonderful dinner, conversation, and togetherness we shared.  On Wednesday, Aaron and I had dinner with another couple, both UM grads, and then attended their small group.  Once again a lovely time to sit down with other fellow believers and enjoy good times together.

In November, when Aaron and I came to preview the seminary we met a couple, Chris and Elizabeth Sirven and their youngest Nate,  that was also looking to come to school here and made a connection.  Such a sweet family of five.  We texted back and forth as we filled out paperwork, got our acceptance letters, and then made the move to NC.  They live right up the street from us.  On Sunday after church we made plans to have dinner on Friday night.  Now our family tradition at the Turner home is Friday night = PIZZA NIGHT.  So after a few texts back and forth, the plans were in order and pizza was made.  Because Chris and Elizabeth have three small children we figured it was easier for us to come to them, so we loaded up the pizzas and up the road we went.  THE PIZZA WAS A HIT!!!  Everyone enjoyed it and I mean EVERYONE.  Nate, their son, was just so happy and content once he got his pizza and the girls, Roslyn and Julia Rose kept asking for  more.  Once our bellies were full from pizza we sat around and talked.  Yes the adults were able to just sit and talk.  The kids would come and sit in our laps, ask a question but were so well behaved and seemed to sense that we adults needed this time.  After a while, it was homemade ice cream time, made by yours truly, Aaron Turner.  He made his famous Double Dark Chocolate ice cream.  Roslyn really wanted Vanilla, Strawberry, and Chocolate ice cream, but settled for just the chocolate, asking for a second bowl after the first one was finished. The conversation lasted late into the night, children fell asleep, were put to bed, and still we kept chatting.  Around 1:00 this morning we finally left their house, leaving the pizza behind and keeping all the wonderful memories and conversation.

We are so thankful for the people God has brought into our lives during our short time here.  I pray that the friendships we have made will continue to grow and we may make those lifetime friends.  We have been so blessed and are looking forward to the relationships that we gain from this adventure.

*Plans have already been made with the Sirvens for "wing night" at Over the Falls.  I can't wait!!!!  I have no doubt there will be loads of food consumed and tons of laughter to go with it.

Aaron's Birthday Week Celebration

This week we celebrated Aaron's birthday.  Instead of just celebrating your birthday on the actual day of your birth, we celebrate ALL WEEK LONG!!!

On Sunday, Aaron competed in his first Triathlon in North Carolina.  It was the Smile Train Triathlon.  He took 1st place in his division.  So very proud of him.  He received a medal and several gift certificates, which we have already spent.

Here is Aaron's medal, race number, and certificate.

On Monday we headed out to Raleigh to do some more exploring and spend the gift certificates that Aaron got from his triathlon.  We went to a super cool mall/shopping center.  We have come to realize that there are shopping centers and malls EVERYWHERE.  It was lunchtime when we arrived so we stopped for lunch at a neat sandwich shop called Which Wich?

To order you simply choose a bag and a red marker and mark away on what your want on your sandwich.  Then you hand it to the cashier, pay for it, and in just a few minutes, they call your name with your sandwich.  YUMMY.

After lunch we headed to several stores and did a bit shopping.  Great way to start the birthday celebration week.

AARON'S BIRTHDAY - JUNE 28, 2012

Time for presents

Itunes gift cards - time for some new tunes.

Dznuts - apparently this is very important for biking.  He was very excited about this gift.  :)

Fogless mirror for shaving in the shower.

Park Tools Shop Apron - it has lots of pockets, compartments, and perfect for working on the bike.

Gracie enjoyed the present opening almost as much as Aaron.

After spending some time at the pool, we came back and there was a HUGE package at the door.

WHAT IS IT?

It is a toolbox on wheels for ALL of his biking equipment.  So excited to have everything organized.

This is Gracie's new perch.  She thinks this treasure chest is just for her.

Headed out to dinner at On the Border.

Red Velvet Cupcakes - I found this recipe from Desserts for Two.  Perfect when you don't need an entire birthday cake sitting in your house.

Happy Birthday Aaron!

We have had a wonderful week.  Thursday we went to the DVM because Aaron's license was expired.  Apparently in NC, you have to take a written test before they give you your license.  We spent over two hours at the DVM.  I didn't have my information so I will have to go back and get that done later.  Then lunch at Chick-fil-A and shopping at Triangle Town Center.  We got some great deals and thanks to a gift card, only spent about $20 of our money.  Friday has been spent at the pool and now we are enjoying "The Elephant Room".  Unit next time...

Apartment Video

As promised here is a video tour of our apartment.  ENJOY!!!

One Year Ago Today...

I married my best friend.

We've had an amazing year and I can't wait to see what the years to come have to bring.  To celebrate our anniversary, we slept in, had breakfast, and then went exploring.  We had a few errands to run and then we just drove around exploring our new city.  There are shopping centers everywhere you turn and the mall in the Triangle area is HUGE.  Speaking of adventures, earlier in the week we went grocery shopping at ALDI.  An amazing warehouse type grocery store, extremely low prices, and a wide variety of food items.   We had a lot of fun and stocked the entire apartment for less than we normally spend on two weeks worth of grocery.  AMAZING!!!

Enjoying our wedding cake after 1 year.  It was still extremely moist and YUMMY!!!

One of our errands today was to buy a printer and we thought it was quite appropriate to buy since "paper" is the traditional gift to give for the one year anniversary.  For dinner we ate at "On the Border" and got Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.  Now we are home enjoying a movie in the comfort of our own home.



Video Tour of the Apartment coming soon.

Quick Update - New Home - North Carolina

After 10+ hours in the car (with a Gracie cat, mind you) we finally arrived in Wake Forest, NC, Wednesday.  After a quick bite to eat and some Krispy Kreme doughnuts (because the "HOT" sign was on), everyone got some much needed rest.

Thursday morning, we were up bright and early,   What took us over 2 weeks to pack, 4 1/2 hours to load into a truck, only took us (5 of us) an hour and 15 minutes to unload into our apartment.  We are very grateful to everyone who helped us, from gathering boxes and newspaper, loading the truck, driving vehicles, unloading, and just praying for us, we say THANK YOU!

We only have one room that still has boxes in it and a few more things to hang on the wall before we can completely call this HOME.  It is extremely quiet here and everyone we have met has been very friendly.

We are excited about the journey God has in store for us and we look forward to sharing it with you.


(Pictures to come of the apartment.  Hopefully my dad (who photographed the whole move, will loan me some of his pictures)

Aaron and Laura

Grandman Triathlon - Fairhope, Alabama

The morning began quite early. 

Sleeping on the eve of a race is really overrated. My alarm was set to wake me up at 4am but as you can see I was ready to go before then.  Time for a big breakfast of oatmeal and eggs to get the day started. 

Aaron left the house at 5:00 A.M. headed to Fairhope to get his numbers painted on and put all of his equipment in the transition area.  I left about an hour later, met Paige, and off we went to Fairhope, cameras in hand to document the "GRANDMAN - TRIATHLON". (Aaron will you give the captions under the pictures)

All the bikes lined up and ready to go. I had to get my transition area set up and then remember where it was.  We arrived  about an hour before the race start. This gave us plenty of time to set up, get numbered, warm up and of course practice finding my transition area. I get a little turned around coming off the swim so I always make sure I practice finding my bike. 

The Mobile Bay was ready for us but I still wasn't sure if I was ready for this swim.  I took a few minutes to take it all in and get use to the temperature of the water. 

If look close you can see me behind the shirtless and nameless man. Just getting out of the water and believe me I was glad that was over. Now time for the bike! My favorite of the three events.

Yep that's me behind the volunteer's arm. Out of transition 1 (T1)  and headed for a bike ride!

On the bike and time to start the climb. The beginning of the bike starts straight up and for a bigger guy like myself that can be a challenge. (That's me in the middle with red and black jersey.)

Here is my friend Brad Hill getting out of T1. Big kudos to Brad, this is his first Triathlon and in the process of training he has lost 50 lbs.

Off the bike and on to a 5K. I finished the bike with an average pace of 20mph which I was very pleased with.  Going to keep working on holding a fast pace and still be able to run strong. 

Just like the bike you start with an uphill battle. This was hardest part of the race for me. I was feeling pretty spent going up the hill but I just kept my pace and made it to the top. After that I was feeling much better.

1 mile to go and still holding my pace of a 9 minute mile. The race is a little deceiving on this turn because at this point I can see the finish line.   I actually ended up looping around before coming to the finish line.

Almost Done!!!

Here is Laura waiting for me at the finish with a big smile. Thanks for all the support!

Brad and I both had a great time. We are all finished and packed up.

So at the end of that day that started so early we were all still smiling. I finished the race in 1:39.08, which I am very happy with. I am planning on completing another triathlon this summer after our move to Wake Forest.  It is called the Smile Train Sprint Triathlon and is held in the city of Wake Forst, NC.

Our Soon to be New Home

We officially have a home in North Carolina. I couldn't be more excited about having one more thing checked off the list. We will be moving to North Forest Apartments in Wake Forest. A charming place and completely RENOVATED. Yes that means new appliances (I will still have a flat topped stove), new counter tops, tile, and paint job. Now we have the joy of packing. We have started collecting boxes and spent a few hours yesterday cleaning out the study. I must admit that we may have just made a bigger mess than anything. But at least it is a start.

Packing aside, we have enjoyed a relaxing weekend together. Aaron spend Friday and Saturday fishing with his dad. Hopefully he will put some of the videos he took on here. They were going really fast. I don't think they caught many fish, but had fun. They did enjoy some delicious seafood at "The Blue Gill". Did you know you get a discount if you drive your boat to the restaurant?

I've got 25 more school days with kids (26 total) until the end of the year. This school year has gone by so quickly. Everyone seems to sense that the end is near and is in TOTAL SURVIVAL MODE. I'm looking forward to the last two weeks of school because we are going to be reading "Ramona Quimby, Age 8", by Beverly Clearly. I always enjoy introducing new authors to my students. This books is quite appropriate because it talks about the beginning of 3rd grade, which is where my students will be heading after the summer. Looking forward to the fun activities planned with this book.

Well as with many things in the Turner House, we have our Sunday night tradition of "brinner" - breakfast for dinner. Aaron is our household pancake maker (homemade all the way) so it is pancakes, grits, and sausage (because I have some in the frig). Then relax and watch the newest episode of "Once Upon A Time"

Oh how I do love my life...