Hog Heaven!

So one thing I should probably share is that my parents recently bought 20 acres of property about 30 minutes outside of Orlando and that they decided to split the property with us!  We could not be more excited about this new venture in our life.  Tony and I both are so excited to be able to raise our family outside of the city.  We loved how when we were kids we were able to play outside and ride our bikes around our neighborhood and half way around town without our parents being worried about us being abducted by a sexual predator.  Today is just plain scary!  Can you say stranger danger?!

Well we are building our dream home (and hopefully our FOREVER home) in Groveland, FL.  It's not going to be anything huge or outlandish, but we will have everything that we want and need :o)

My husband was checking up on the property one day and noticed that there was a TON of hog rooting which is no bueno! So he decided to get his dad and his brother-in-law to come out to the property to do some hog hunting!

They didn't have any luck that night, but they did have a lot of fun just hanging out at the property enjoying the weather and the beautiful FL sunset!  

My husband decided to set a trap up so they could catch some hogs while they weren't there and get them off the property ...and into our bellies!  After setting the trap a couple of times my he ended up catching 10 hogs!!  We ended up keeping two of them, but had to put the rest of them down.  We wanted to keep more to raise them up, but they were WAY too aggressive!

Here are a couple of pictures of some of the hogs my husband caught...

We ended up keeping the blonde spotted pig above.  She's actually pretty docile and sweet for being a wild pig :o)

We've had quite a few good meals out of these pigs so far!  The other night we went over to my sister-in-law's house for a BBQ.  Her husband injected the hog meat with a brine, wrapped the meat in bacon, smothered it in BBQ sauce and grilled it!  It was AMAZING!!!  Seriously the best pork I've ever had!

It was so good even Hunter wanted some! LoL

It was a great night filled with delicious food and wonderful family! It's always so much fun getting the families together!  Here's a picture of Hunter chatting it up with his little cousin Riley Ann :o)

I love our family!  And can't wait till the next BBQ ;o)

Our First Family Trip

So we just got back from our first family trip up in North Carolina!  All in all, I have to say the trip went very well with having a 3 month old.  We were there for 10 days and it was AMAZING!  So relaxing and enjoyable :o)

I mean, how could you not love such a naturally BEAUTIFUL place?!  This Florida girl was in love with all of the mountains and the weather! Yes, I do love the beach and being out on the boat during the summer, but I looooove the fact that it was a high of 65 during the day and absolutely NO humidity (and so did my hair)!

I have to admit, I was fairly nervous traveling such a long distance with a 3 month old.  On the way up we stopped at our family's hunt camp which is about 5 miles before the FL/GA border.  It's so nice to be able to break up the trip so it doesn't seem as long!  We decided that night that whatever time Hunter woke up to eat we would leave and get on the road.  He woke up at 1:30 and we were on the road a few short minutes later!  It was the absolute BEST way to travel!  He slept practically the whole time and woke up when we were 10 minutes out from the cabin!

We had only been at the cabin for about 30 minutes when my husband started putting on his hunting gear to go out in the mountains and try to bag himself a big 'ol turkey!  My husband literally dreams about hunting in his sleep.  If it were legal, I'm pretty sure he would spend every second of the day hunting!  He didn't have any luck the first day, but the second day he did.

He fired a celebratory shot in the front yard and we all came out running to see what he got.  This is him carrying the big bird up the hill with a big grin on his face :o)

Needless to say, the bird was huge (and DELICIOUS)!  We actually ended up eating almost the entire turkey while we were up there! LoL  

After Tony bagged the bird he was able to relax and enjoy his vacation :o)  In the mornings we would sit out on the front porch with our coffee and enjoy the quiet of the mountains.

And at night we would sit inside in front of the roaring firing which kept us nice and toasty!

Right down the road from the cabin is the historic Glen Choga Lodge.

It was built back in the 1930's where it used to be right off of the North Carolina Turnpike and a hotspot for vacationers.  After they re-routed the road the lodge became isolated.  It's a beautiful piece of history and I love being able to go there and visit!

After a visit to the lodge we decided to go fishing.

And then we had a picnic beside a creek.

We had so much fun on this trip and we can't wait to go back when Hunter is a little bit older so he can enjoy it a little bit more :o)

Here are some more random pictures from our trip.

North Carolina Here We Come!

The first trip I ever took with my husband was before we were married and with his family up to their cabin home in North Carolina!  

We look so young!! LoL

It was seriously one of the BEST trips I've ever taken (besides our honeymoon in Jamaica) and we've been back a couple of times after that.  Now that I'm a stay at home momma we'll be able to go up there a lot more, which is so exciting!  We will be making our first trip up with Hunter in a few days, so hopefully he will do good on the almost 9 HOUR trip up there ...YIKES! Your prayers are appreciated ;o)

  

Isn't their cabin just beautiful?!  It's so rustic and old fashioned, I just love it!  It's so nice being up in the mountains and just being able to get away from everything.  When you're up there all of your stress just seems to melt away.  You're removed from all the hustle and bustle and chaos of your normal life and just get to relax with family!  I'm so excited to bring Hunter up there and for him to get to experience the joy of true country living as he grows up and gets older.  My husband and I really hope this cabin will be something that stays in the family for generations to come :o)

My brother-in-law and his beautiful family live up in North Carolina, so it's always so great to see and spend time with them when we go up there!

North Carolina is truly one of the most beautiful places (in my opinion) in the country!  When we go up in the summer, we love to take the boat out on Lake Nantahala.  It is absolutely GORGEOUS!!  The water is so clear, crisp and refreshing (unlike majority of the lakes here in FL)!

 I told you it was beautiful ;o)

We're going to be up there for a little over a week and I could not be more excited!  Just as the FL weather is starting to get hot and humid again, I'll be going up the mountains where it's in the high 60's during the day and low 40's at night ...PERFECT!!! 

I hope all of you are having a great week and I can't wait to get back and tell you all about our trip :o)

Nailed It!

Thanks to Pinterest, I have found the BEST, easiest, fastest and most effective way to remove nail polish!  

I was bored one day and organizing my Pinterest boards and came across this little gem of a tutorial and figured I'd give it a try!  I've always loved painting my nails, but dreaded when I had to remove it.  It was always SUCH a pain!  I would end up using a TON of cotton balls and wind up getting the stain from the nail polish all over my fingers ...no bueno :o(  It would usually take me anywhere from 15-20 minutes to take my nail polish off, whereas this nifty little method only takes me 5 minutes tops!

Ok, so here's what you're going to need...

A bottle of nail polish remover and a cotton ball.  I recommend pure acetone because it's what the salon's use and it really seems to get the job done.  I've had this bottle for about 4 years and I paid a little over $1 for it Walmart ...talk about a bargain ;o)  And you have to use a cotton BALL, not cotton buds, pads or tissues or else it won't work.

So, what you're going to do is unravel the cotton ball into a long strip.  It should be pretty easy considering they make the cotton ball by rolling it up into a spiral.

Now tear the strip vertically down the middle into 2 strips.  You're saving yourself some serious money here!

Now you're going to take one of the strips and tear it into little nail-sized pieces.  I usually end up getting about 15 little pieces from one strip.  I use the extras to clean up any excess nail polish.

(Sorry for the crappy picture quality.  Bathroom lighting is no good for picture taking!)

Now that you have your little cotton pieces ready to go, pour some nail polish remover into the cap from the bottle.  Dip the cotton piece into the nail polish remover.  You don't need to dunk it in there because the remover will travel up the cotton piece and absorb it up pretty quickly.  If you do, you'll have nail polish remover running all down your hands and arms ...trust me ;o)  After you've dipped the cotton piece into the remover press it onto your nail ...lather, rinse repeat until you've done this to all of your nails and then let it sit on there for about 1 minute.

Then take one of your extra cotton pieces and dip it into the remover and start wiping the little cotton pieces off of your nails from your nail bed to the nail tip and PRESTO!

These are my nails after just ONE swipe!  

After you've taken all of the cotton pieces off of your nails, you can take another one of your extra pieces and go around the edges of your nails to remove any nail polish that was left behind. And now you have beautiful clean nails that took less than 5 minutes and you only used half of a cotton ball!  Aaaaand you still have an entire strip left over for the next time you want to clean your nails!  I don't think you can get any cheaper than that folks ;o)  

The first time I tried this method I couldn't believe how well it worked!  I hope you all enjoyed this little tutorial and that it works as well for you as it did for me!

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Stork Stack!

So, I just found out about the COOLEST thing for moms with children 3 and under!  It's called Stork Stack.  It's a monthly membership that sends you gifts specifically based on your child's age and gender and they throw in a little something for mom too ;o)

My first stork stack arrived the other day at my front door and I could hardly contain my excitement as I ran for the scissors to open the box and see all the goodies inside!  Each month's box has a different and unique theme.  The theme for April was "Go Green!" ...how appropriate for spring :o)  Everything in the box was completely organic, which made this momma very happy!

Inside the box they had the CUTEST teething rattle made by Organic Farm Buddies from Apple Park and a First Keys teether from Green Toys which was made from recycled milk cartons ...pretty cool!

They also had environmentally safe laundry detergent from EcoSprout.  All of you cloth-diapering momma's out there will be happy to know that this detergent is completely safe for your cloth diapers too!  And West African Shea and Calendula lotion from Green Envee.  This nut-free lotion is great for children with nut allergies or skin sensitivities :o)

And for my favorite part of the package, a special little gift just for me!  A DELICIOUS dark chocolate banana bar from Clandestino!!  I'm telling you, I could have eaten 15 more of these tasty little treats ...which I'm guessing is how they get you hooked and get you to visit there website during a 2:30am feeding and contemplate ordering more ...not that I did that or anything ;o)

They also threw in a few coupons, and lets face it, what mom doesn't love coupons?!  All in all I have to say that I am VERY impressed with the Stork Stack and am eagerly anticipating my next box for May! 

To close this post I'm throwing in a couple of pictures of Hunter checking out his new toys :o)

Hmmm... What's this thing all about??

 Yeah, this thing is pretty cool :o)