The Harper's

Christmas!!

2011-12-24T20:27:00.001-08:00

We spent Christmas time traveling a lot back and forth between Cheraw, Apex, and Durham. We started off spending Tues and Wed night with Mark and Renae and going to the UNC vs. Texas game on Wed night. On Thursday we got to meet up with the Moore's and Blalock's and go to Tyler's Taproom for dinner, stopped by Starbucks (of course!) and then go back to the Blalock house and play cards. It was really fun to all be together for Christmas (minus the Ferrell's) BUT we did get to Skype them in to our night for a little while! You were very missed! It was a super fun night filled with lots of laughing as you can see in the pictures below. The theme song for the night is "Sexy and I know it". On Saturday, we spent Christmas Eve Day with my family doing all of our gift exchange and food. It was really fun to have everyone together but unfortunately we had to leave early to come back to Cheraw for our Christmas Eve Service. It was such a fun trip traveling. I love this time of year and having the time off of school.

Feeling Baby B Kick! He sure was movin' after dinner!!

Watching a video of Ashley's friends belly move when she was really pregnant.. it was crazy!

While we played cards we had my phone with pandora playing and it played some pretty random stuff... but of course it was always music we could break it down to. This face is soooo Ashley.

Check out Kevin's face... I totally didn't even know he did that until I looked at these pictures. Sneaky.

Dance Party.

Can't keep it together....

Finally a good one...

Mom's house with everyone hanging out.

Me and my sweet nephew Logan. Hard to believe he is a Kindergartener!

Papa and Mom. Of course he was dressed in a red vest and green pants. With Christmas socks. Love him!

Me and Rich. A half- win. Eyes half-open...

Oh, the attempts of getting this picture. They were funny. I decided to put the final product.

Our church decorated for the Christmas Eve Service. Beautiful.

Kevin (Woship Pastor) Dan (Senior Pastor) and my cute hubby!

Thanksgiving in Roanoke!

2011-11-26T17:03:00.000-08:00

Our tradition for Thanksgiving is to go to Roanoke, VA every year. We love spending time with the Harper family! This year it was a little different because we left right after my teacher workday on Wednesday and we were coming from Cheraw instead of Durham. It took a little under 4 hours to get from C to R. On Wednesday we came in to Cheri and TG's house and stayed with them like we always do! It is always so great to see everyone since we don't get to see them very often. The ongoing joke when we arrive is that TG calls me Julie because the first year I came he purposefully called me the wrong name the whole time and it stuck! He also introduced himself the first time we met wearing a gray mullet wig... everyone was cracking up and I had no clue that wasn't his normal hair!!!! We had a wonderful dinner that Cheri cooked with BBQ chicken, ranch chicken, potatoes, green beans, rolls...mmm! It was so good! Marshall and Patrick went to the local gym and acted like they just moved to the area and were thinking about joining... haha (since we've joined the gym in Cheraw and been going he felt he needed to go). While they did that I played cards with Cheri, Katie, Kevin, Ben, Megan, Doug, Karen, and Chase. We played a game called Scum that I've never played before that was a lot of fun! Then we watched the Duke basketball game at 10.

On Thursday, we were super lazy because we didn't end up going to bed until about 1:45 the night before and woke up around 9:30. Cheri cooked a big breakfast and Katie and I helped to make sausage poofs (I think that's what they were called). It was sausage and cream cheese stuffed in crescent rolls into little balls and then baked! They were delicious! We also had biscuits, eggs, bacon, sausage gravy...! Like I said, I was not lacking in the food department!! Thursday night we went over to Inez and Bob's house and had Thanksgiving dinner with the whole fam! Another tradition we have is that everyone brings Black Friday AD's and we all sit around after dinner and look at them and make lists of what to get the next day. It was crazy this year because some of the stores were opening at midnight so we left a little earlier to shop that night instead of the next morning. Marshall and I went to Old Navy at midnight and some people had already been there since 10:30 that night in line!! We got in with the 2nd wave of people and I was able to get a lot of the stuff I was going for! After Old Navy we went back to Cheri's and went to bed until about 7:45 then got up and went to Dick's and back to the mall to the rest of the stores! We got some awesome deals!

On Friday afternoon we got back and watched Christmas Vacation and took some naps and then went out to dinner at Cheddar's with everyone. That night we rented Horrible Bosses and watched it and then the Carolina game. It was such a long and relaxing Thanksgiving break! I always look forward to this time of no-stress, no-school, no-responsibility, and retail therapy through Black Friday! On Saturday, Marshall had been looking forward to going to downtown Roanoke to go to the Roanoke Weenie Stand. I've never been and it had been so long since he'd been that he was excited! Downtown was sooo cute! We walked around all the little vendors downtown and then hit the road back to Che--raw and got back around 5:00... what a wonderful trip! :)

The downtown shops and vendors

The weenie stand...

Look how cute!!!

Downtown area

The Dr. Pepper sign!

My new no-metal watch!!

Cheri and TG's house!

Me and Cheri

Marshall and Bella (or as they call her Meow-Meow... it just happened...)

Gooo Panthers!

2011-10-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

I had the wonderful privilege of going to another Panthers game! This was a special game for several reasons: 1) It was Panthers vs. Redskins --I am a Panthers fan and Marshall is a Redskins fan 2) I got to see my mom who I don't get to see as often now that I've moved 3) My cousin Richard was coming to this game who I only get to see like 2 times a year! So, yeah! I was pretty pumped about making the trip to Charlotte! It was a BEAUTIFUL day! High of 70, sunshine... gorgeous! Me, Marshall, Mom, George, Richard, my Aunt Bobetta, and my Uncle Bash all were able to go to the game, which made it so much fun! I loved getting the chance to spend time with my Mom and Richard! We also had an interesting lady sitting in front of us who entertained Marshall, Richard, and I the entire time we were there. Needless to say, every time a song came on the loudspeaker she felt the need to stand up and shake everything she had! HAHA! Luckily, Richard captured this on video and sent it to my phone for me since he, in his words, "thought I might want to have for my personal library" - If anyone is interested in this video, I will be happy to share :) Anyway, here are some pictures from our trip...

Aunt Bobetta (her hair is growing back!), Uncle Bash, Mom

Me and Rich

Life in Cheraw

2011-10-01T07:55:00.001-07:00

Well, life in Cheraw. Hmm. Where do I begin? First of all, we L.O.V.E. it here. It is certainly a small town, but there are definitely perks to living here. I think I could drive around and look at the historic houses all day. It never gets old. Next, We LOVE our church family here. They are so welcoming, loving, supportive, caring, fun. I could go on and on. If you have seen Friday Night Lights, I think of our town similar to Dillon, Texas. On Friday nights, everyone is at the high school football game. Yes, I did say THE high school. As in ONE. Yes, there are only a few choices of places to eat and we have to drive into Florence if we want any big restaurants. We do have a GREAT mexican restaurant that everyone just calls "mexican" haha... because it's the only one in town. A couple weeks ago I went and took pictures in our downtown area. It is such a cute little area and reminds me of Boone's downtown streets. Anyway, here is our life through pictures.

Our front door to our rental house. The summer wreath I made via Pinterest (love!) (please excuse myself in the door reflection...)

A view from one side of the downtown area. It's several streets. This is a restaurant called the Rack Shack.
Our favorite restaurant "The Rivers Edge". They make everything homemade to the butter, bread and peanut butter. Y-U-M!

Another view. They say in the Spring when the azalea's are blooming it is beautiful!

Another view outside River's Edge.

NWC

2011-06-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to Carowinds and the National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC. It was a great trip, especially a great last trip for us with the youth of RBC. You can read more about the whole trip on Brooke's blog. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the white water rafting trip. As she said, I stood on the sidelines and took pics for several reasons. Last time we went to the NWC I went rafting, so I had done it before. On Thursday, I got a wart frozen on my toe (I know TMI) and it had blistered up so I couldn't possibly have stuck my foot under the boat to hold myself in. YIKES! Just thinking about that makes me hurt. Needless to say I consider myself a trooper for walking around Carowinds and the NWC with that giant blister (I have newfound respect for Kevin when he had his massive blisters from sun poisoning!). Anyways, without further adue... here are some of my favs...

Katie and Patrick's Wedding

2011-06-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, Katie, who's Marshall's sister and my sister-in-law got married! It was such a great weekend with great family time to celebrate! The wedding was in Charleston, SC which is a place that I love! I've only been once so I was super excited to go again and spend a long weekend there. We went down on Thursday and stayed until Sunday afternoon. It was a really fun weekend that we spent hanging out with family that we don't get to see very often. We have a great time with Katie and Patrick and love hanging out with them. We are very thankful that we all get along so well. On Thursday we went to the outlets and Charleston :)

This was a picture of all the bridesmaids getting ready. Thanks to Ashley, Marshall's cousin, my hair got done once I got to the church!

Me and the beautiful bride!!

This was our bridesmaids breakfast at the Hominy Grill restaurant on Friday morning!

Katie, Ashley and I before the wedding! It was such a beautiful day and a great weekend away!!!

Ahh, Remember This??!!

2010-12-22T10:57:00.001-08:00

I was going through pictures and saw this. This was on our way to Charleston, SC when we got very turned around and passed SAS like 3 times. HAHAHA this just makes me laugh! Enjoy!

I Heart Football

2010-12-19T08:59:00.000-08:00

First, I'll start off most recently. Warning: There are a lot of pictures! The first pictures are from last week on my trip to Charlotte with my family to go to the Carolina Panthers game. This was our view from our seats...

Check out Steve Smith (#89)!!!!!! I was super excited to be this close to him...

This was a pretty good picture of Clausen about to throw a pass....

Ok... so this is Rev. Syko (a Falcons fan who was certifiably insane) he kept turning around and getting the people around him to sing Christmas carols... He is apparently having a conversation with Sir Purr, the Panthers mascot.

Me and Mom

Our view straight through the goal post before the game had started (the net was still up)

Mom, me and my Aunt Bobetta getting warm before the game started

Still in good spirits even though it was freezing and raining while we were tailgating

My Uncle Bash (who has season tickets to the Panthers)

Now on to the game a couple weeks ago. Carolina vs. Duke @ Duke....

Me and my cousin Celeste tailgating before the game

How cute is my grandpa with his hat??? Who also, by the way, showed up to Marshall's graduation party Friday night in head-to-toe red even with his shoes and socks a matching red. He's precious!

I absolutely love football season! Too bad my mountaineers aren't a threat anymore... but now looking ahead to basketball season!!!

Not so extreme home makeover

2010-08-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

HOUSE UPDATES!! Yay!

This summer has been a great time for me to work on home projects for the house! Since I have had sooo much free time to relax (which I will be missing dearly starting next week) I have been recording and watching Design shows on HGTV. I've taken some of the things I've learned from there and transferred them to my own house! Here are some things that I've done...

I took scrapbook paper and framed it to make inexpensive, color coordinated artwork for the bathroom :)

Probably the highlight and pride of my summer, my unfinished furniture bathroom cabinet. I stained it (2 coats) and polyurethaned it (yes, I just made that a verb!) let it air dry in the garage for days and viola! I think it matches the cabinets as perfect as it could!! But as Christy can tell you from my first coat... it was work! I was sweatin bullets out in that 99 degree garage!

I bought a shoe rack and put it together and it makes the closet SO much more organized with my bins of boots and other items beside it!

This was another piece of furniture that we got for Marshall's clothes to be in our bedroom. It was also from the unfinished furniture place which we got to stain a clear coat for us to match the rest of the bedroom. It's a little lighter, but such a great storage for Marshall's clothes!

On our trip to Ikea before Taylor and Emily's wedding in Charlotte I bought some inexpensive accessories to decorate the house! From my first Ikea experience the main thing I would say is that it's freakin huge! It did have great prices, but I'm not gonna like, it was a little overwhelming!

Here are some seat cushions for the kitchen table to match our black & white theme, with green accents.

A cute vase to go on top of our cabinets.... $3.99!! (I'm going to get some short branches to put inside it)

Another scrapbook/art project with the opposite black and white mats with the black and white scrapbook paper. The baskets I got from Charity and spraypainted black to match our kitchen... thanks!!

This was for those of you who haven't seen our house in a while! Hopefully I'll keep adding fun accents that make me smile!

The Beach Part 1

2010-06-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

So this week, we are at the beach with Marshall's family for the Harper Family Reunion that we do every 2 years. It has been really relaxing so far to end the school year and go to the beach the very next day.

We made up a scavenger hunt for the family to participate in and had families get extremely serious and competitive! We weren't taking it too seriously, so we stopped for ice cream instead. Haha.

The weather has been absolutely beautiful and although I got a little burnt the first day, I've been good about putting on sunscreen since then. Marshall was playing golf today and he will play again on Thursday.

Last night we went to Original Benjamin's Seafood restaurant and Marshall put everyone to shame eating crab legs. 8 plates later... he was finally done. Of course, I only ate fried shrimp, roasted potatoes, fried okra and hushpuppies. I'll post more later, but this is what has happened so far! :) I am blessed to be in such a fun and wonderful family.

Ahhhh Bliss!

2010-04-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

YAYYYY for Spring Break! We were saying as teachers that we need it more than the students do at this point! I am afraid, however, that by the end of this week I will be ready to quit my job and be home everyday! I guess I should just be thankful to have a job right now :) Anyway, one of my favorite things to do (as Marshall can tell you) is have Saturday mornings together. I love sleeping in and fixing breakfast on Saturday when you have no time schedule (I also know Charity loves this too because when we talk about our Saturday events they are pretty much the same, haha).

Bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns (with lots of ketchup!) This was taken a little too late because Marshall had already eaten some off his plate- whoops!

So, I have been getting really excited about moving into our new house and decorating although I know we won't have to buy a lot of new things which is great! I got the chance to go shopping and get a few new items.... here is a sneak peak of one of the decorations I got.

The shower curtain for the guest bathroom

We signed a contract!!!

2010-03-12T12:42:00.000-08:00

WOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This must be how basketball players feel when they sign a contract!!!!

After careful consideration... the Birchrun house is home!

It makes the most sense in the long run to go ahead while the government is paying us to do something we would do anyway to take advantage. We are so excited!!!!

For those of you -other than my lover Brooke... long story ;)- who have not seen the house, I have taken a few pictures of it so that you can fall in love just as I did.

This is how we felt after signing.... haha

Us in our new, lovely kitchen. The refridgerator is coming...

The master bedroom....One of MY favorite things about the house...the walk in closet!!!!! :)

The master bathroom with double sinks...

Our kitchen...

Our beautiful realtor who I told I was so thankful for today!

Our new address in May, 363 Birchrun Drive, Durham, NC 27712

As Ty would say on Extreme Home Makeover.... "Welcome Home Harper Family, Welcome Home!!!!"

Haiti

2010-01-13T17:41:00.000-08:00

A Prayer and A Wonderful Memory from Haiti.....

Read the lyrics for "Let the world see" by Carl Cartee and think about Haiti.

Let the world see a light on a hill.
Let the world see Your purpose fulfilled.
Let the world see Your glory.
Let the world see Your love in our hearts.

Lord, You so loved the world
You gave Your only Son,
So now I give my all.
Let Your will be done.
Let Your will be done.

Let the world see a light on a hill.
Let the world see Your purpose fulfilled.
Let the world see Your glory.
Let the world see Your love in our hearts.

We have been called to go
Tell of the risen One.
The harvest time is here.
Let Your kingdom come.
Let Your kingdom come.

Light of the world, shine on, shine on.
Light of the world, shine on, shine on.

Wii Gaming and Photography Experimentation

2010-01-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

Christy had decided that we needed to make going to The Olive Garden around New Year's an annual thing... which is fine with me because I LOVE The Olive Garden! I offered to have everyone come back to our house to hang out afterwards. We just got the Wii Fit for Christmas from my mom and we have loved playing the games and laughing at ourselves, so what better to watch people make fools of themselves trying to maneuver on the little Wii board?! Here are some pictures to capture a tiny but of the hillariousness that was that night...

Brooke trying to go through the obstacle course....

Kevin in Warrior Yoga Pose showing his great balance to align his pelvis.... hahahahaha

Chad flapping his wings to help the bird get to it's destination....

Christy on the obstacle course...

Kevin attempting the obstacle course... Go DeQuan!

Our little "Player A" who we named DeQuan... it fit him, I think. GOO DEQUAN!!!!

Photography Experimenting

Marshall and I went to the new park that is in Wake Forest to experiment with our new camera and to see what the park looked like. It was a beautiful park, but unfortunately it was about 32 degrees with the wind blowing like crazy! We did get some good shots and learned a little more about our camera. We stayed out for as long as we could stand it and our hands were burning and numb from being so cold. Here are some of the pictures we took.

Crazy Christmas!

2009-12-29T16:31:00.000-08:00

For us, Christmas is a very special time of year not only because it's the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but also because it was this time last year that all of the medical craziness started. It is so hard for me to believe that it was only a year ago on Christmas night (technically the next morning) that Marshall had his seizure. It really makes me especially thankful this year that we have persevered through everything that happened this past year. This has been a rough and trying year, but as I wrote in my journal to close out all of the events that happened... (when we were about to leave our last appointment Dec. 15) "I started to cry after he (Dr. Germanwala) left the room and while we were waiting to check out. They were happy tears of disbelief of all we've been through this past year and that through having each other and relying and trusting God's blessing and strength we've made it. We've not only made it, we're made it and come out more in love and deeper in love than when we started. I married an amazingly strong man that I cannot even put into words how much I love and cherish him. I am the luckiest woman in the world". Just to share a little piece of my journal :) Anyway, enough of that... here are some events of our Christmas Eve and Day....

My nephew and neice Logan and Hailey

Me, Mom and Jessica on Christmas Day....

Katie in her Snuggie that she got for Christmas... yes I said Snuggie.

Me opening one of my presents at Mark & Renae's... a sweater from American Eagle- so cute!

Me and my cousins Richard and Celeste... Richard can never keep his eyes open in pictures... its one of our family jokes. I just let this one go and considered it a "good picture"

Of course I have to have atleast one of me and Marshall...

Me and my sweet Logan.

Tyler and Erin's Wedding!

2009-10-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

So... better late than never, right? I was once again told how horrible of a blogger I am on Sunday which motivated me to atleast update it so that it doesn't say "updated 5 months ago" which I know.... it's awful. When do ya'll have time to blog?! I heard Christy say once about something creative she had done that Tucker had asked when she had time to do this and she responded with "Well, Chad was watching football and I was bored!". That answers my question. I'm the one who is watching the game, too. I wish I was more creative!

Anyways, a couple of weeks ago we made the wonderful trip up to Boone for Tyler and Erin's wedding. They seriously could not have asked for a more beautiful day! The weather was perfect! And that makes me excited about going up next weekend!! Erin looked really beautiful and since it was a small wedding, I was very honored and thankful that they invited us to share their day with them. Congratulations Boone's!

Notice the paisley clutch Marshall is holding... pink shirt....hmmm

Haha... we weren't quite ready for this shot.... Look at Marshall's face!

After Surgery

2009-06-14T18:45:00.000-07:00

We have had so many people tell us that they want to bring food over after the surgery. I thought it would be helpful for everyone if you wanted to cook or pick up food for Marshall to have an idea of what a few of his favorite foods are: 1. Creamed Corn 2. Chicken Casserole 3. Vegetable Soup 4. Brunswick Stew (Bullock's is the best...) 5. Baked Chicken 6. Creamed Potatoes 7. BBQ Chicken 8. Pizza Desserts 1. Angel Food Cake with Strawberries 2. Snicker's Ice Cream 3. Apple Turnovers 4. Any type of Cobbler He is not picky so anything you want to make will be perfect. This is just a helpful list for if you want to bring something. Thanks for your support and prayers throughout these past few months!

Camping (a little late)

2009-06-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well, speaking as someone who does not like camping, we had a wonderful time! It was a great opportunity for Memorial Day weekend to be at the beach for cheap. Although almost all of us ended up with colds, sore throats, and other... unfortunate side effects, we all had a great time. It was fun to just be able to get away and not think about anything and sometimes laugh until we hurt. Here are some pictures.

The video as promised....

2009-05-18T16:38:00.001-07:00

This video is the cutest thing... Marshall and I watched it the other night and were laughing so hard.

Marshall's Birthday Golf!! (great present)

2009-05-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry I am a horrible blogger and never update it... but here is something I have been wanting to post for a couple weeks!

For Marshall's birthday I always try to plan an activity to do as well as a present. Last year I didn't tell him where we were going and drove him to Frankie's Fun Park (because he ALWAYS used to talk about how he wanted to go there sometime) and we ate in the little diner, played putt putt and played games in the arcade.

This year, I had to make it something he wouldn't expect and something I knew he would enjoy. I decided to research golf courses in the Raleigh-Wake Forest area and make a tee time for Tuesday (his birthday). It was a perfect thing to do because it falls on my Spring Break with the students. After looking at websistes and calling some places I made a tee time for his birthday at River Ridge Golf Course (the only 4 1/2 star golf course in Raleigh). However, the weather was not going to cooperate for his birthday. So, instead we ended up going on Wednesday instead of his actual birthday (bummer, I know). It was so much fun though... and he was totally proud of me for making a tee time (which I have never done before).

Marshall was the only one playing and I was in charge of driving the golf cart... because I would beast him at golf and c'mon, he doesn't want to get beat on his birthday.

SNOW!

2009-01-22T17:48:00.000-08:00

So... we had our first snow day!!! I was super excited that I didn't have to go in to work on the teacher workdays and I had a whole week (well, almost) to hang out at home with Marshall. On Wednesday, I finally convinced him we needed to go out to Target...

Good News!!

2009-01-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

Hey! I want to thank everyone who has been praying for me and Rachel during this time. I received a phone call today from Blue Cross/Blue Shield today letting me know that they are going to insure me! This is a huge relief for both of us. We still have a lot of bills to pay from before I had insurance, but we are so thankful that we will not have to pay for much more. This insurance does have a higher premium than some of the others we applied for but it also has 100% coverage after we meet our deductable. Please continue to pray that we have the means to pay the original bills and that we will get a good report when I finally get the tests done that I have been holding off on becuase of the lack of insurance. We are hoping to have an appointment sometime in early February to have an MRI and an Angiography. Again, we ask that you continue to pray and we know that God is faithful to provide for all of our needs both financially and physically!

-Marshall and Rachel

Our First Christmas!

2008-12-24T18:10:00.000-08:00

It is so hard to believe that we are already at almost 7 months being married! It has all been so incredible and FAST! It has truly blessed my life being married to Marshall. I really cannot imagine moving out of that phase of life (college) into getting my job without having him with me.

Now, on to Christmas! We are so excited about having our first Christmas together and having our first TREE! We are not fake tree people so we went out to buy our tree the week after Thanksgiving after we got back from Haiti. We both decided that we liked short, fat trees- so that is what we got...

We spent Christmas Eve with my family and we are traveling around for Christmas day to go to see all of our family around the area. It will be a busy but fun day. We were just talking on the way home in the car about how we can't believe Christmas is almost over. It goes by so fast! It is so fun to see all of our wrapped presents under the tree though.

We hope that everyone has a GREAT Christmas!!! :)

Wedding 2

2008-10-01T18:37:00.001-07:00

Wedding 1

2008-10-01T18:36:00.001-07:00

I finally gave in...

2008-09-29T12:44:00.001-07:00

HEY! I really enjoy looking at other people's blogs... so, I finally gave in. I will probably be doing more pictures than anything. I asked Marshall if we should start a blog like a week ago, and he said that he didn't want to because of how widespread Facebook is, but there is something to be said for writing along with adding pictures when an event happens. So... I will probably be taking pictures of my students and classroom to put on here as well as some pictures of me and Marshall to add also. :) YAY!