Burke Manor Cinemas

Randomly a few weeks ago Josh asked Beth Jordan if she had ever seen FARGO?  Beth stated that she had not and I then chimed in that I had not either.  Josh blown away that we had not seen a movie done by his favorite the Coen brothers, stated we needed to have a movie night.  Well again it has been weeks.  However, we finally had the viewing last night and now I understand why Kevin Benedict did not want to come and participate!  The movie was rather disturbing and I could not believe that it was based on a true story.  One good thing is that we got to break out the popcorn popper and I had candy like the kind you get at the movies.  Elliot asked me if I had gone to the theater and purchased it.  I of course informed him I got it at Walmart!  I then got made fun of because I opened each candy box and only took like 1 or 2 of each kind!!  I only wanted a sample of each, what can I say.  Overall the evening was fun even if the movie was disturbing.  Elliott and Beth were a blast to hang out with and Kevin and Kevin we missed you!

Balentine Treats!!

Unless you are Jonathan or Josh you will not catch the title of this blog.  However, I wanted to share my V-day with everyone who reads this.  Josh went to great lengths to make sure it was a very special day.  Earlier in the week he had bought me another season of CSI  Las Vegas!!! I wasn't really expecting much for today. However, Josh treated me to a massage, we made banana pancakes and then he left on his adventure to secure my V-day surprise.  He arrived back home at 4pm with a Ledo's pizza and my absolute favorite wine.  Now you say, ooh pizza and wine.  However, I have been doing the MS diet for roughly a month.  This means no dairy, red meat, cream etc. I had decided that I would allow myself off for the day.   So I was loving the Ledo's and was happy to have a glass of my favorite wine with it.  Then the night went on to include a FREE bluegrass concert at Massaponax High School.  It was way fun and the two groups were quite good.  Then the night ended with a mint chocolate chip sundae at Friendly's..  I haven't had ice cream in a whole month which is a major deal for me.  Josh is the best and I really wish I would have gotten him more than the Bourne Trilogy for his gift.  However, he loved it immensely.  Valentine's 2009 will go down in the ones to remember.

Band of Brothers 2009

The Band of Brothers marathon went well.  I think if we do it again next year we will start a little earlier, but other than that it was a lot of fun.  We started at 12:30pm and went until 12:00am watching the 10 part series known as Band of Brothers.  It is definitely a very intense series with great character development, action and drama.  We had a good turn out of: Dowker, Benedict, Elliot, Josh and myself, Bobby - O, Ben, the Mark's girls, Jeremy, Aimee and Bryan Scott.  We had good food, fellowship and got through the whole series in one sitting.  Thank you to Kevin Dowker for hosting this event.  We hope everyone had as much fun as Josh and I did.

Oh To Be With Jesus

Marion Andrew Kearns July 7, 1929 - January 9, 2009.  My grandfather finally went home to be with Jesus this morning at 12:45am.  It was a time of tears, singing, sadness and celebration.  That seems like too many emotions to put into one sentence, but that is how it was.  He will be greatly missed, but we know that he is no longer suffering.  He was a wonderful grandfather, father and husband who loved Jesus.  To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.  Oh to be with Jesus, my papaw now knows what that truly is like.

My First Transiberian Orchestra Experience

This is definitely a must see for any who have not seen it. The experience began by riding to the Pentagon with Dale, Robert and Bobby-O in the Mark's van. That was a first as well Pentagon City Mall. Yes, I know how old am I and how long have I lived in this area to have never been to Pentagon City mall. We grabbed some grub there and then hit the metro to the Verizon Center. We met up with everyone at the Verizon center which included: Jessup Family, Underwoods, Eileen Morgan and the list goes on. It was definitely an experience that I highly recommend and may look into doing next year..

On the Road Again...

This past weekend was  a refreshing weekend to say the least.  It was a nice drive up to Mountville, PA to visit the Garman's.  We arrived up there on Friday around 3pm and did not leave until Sunday at 4pm.  It was a much needed time away and it was a joy to see Colby, Annie and the Girls.  Friday night we enjoyed some live music in downtown Lancaster at the "Building of Character".  It truly did have a lot of character.  Saturday was a trip to the oldest indoor market where Josh and I purchased a lot of goodies like home-made jelly and organic tea, yum!  Saturday also included some rounds of Blokus and Loot, Annie out did herself at both of these games.  However, we caught her cheating the first round of Blokus (not intentional, we think)!  Sunday we went to church and then out to dinner!  Colby decided to take us on a riding tour of the whole entire town of Lancaster, before we got to eat!  Haley was not impressed as she screamed that her, "back was hot" from the back of my car.  We finally arrived at Chille's and enjoyed dinner.  At the end Darcy informed everyone that now she could have a, "tookie".  It was hard to leave, but the time we had was fun.  Thanks to Aunt Snookie for hosting us in her beautiful home.

The Annual

Well it is that time of year again.  The annual day after Thanksgiving, Christmas tree hunt.  Josh and I have done this every year since we have been married.  However, this year we decided to invite Jonathan, Sydney, Kevin Dowker and the girls...  It was fun times, I was of course the last one to find my tree.  I mean you can't choose a tree unless you view everyone they have on the lot!  It was a lot of fun and my mom and dad joined us as they have every other year.  We got a short needled blue spruce this year as opposed to the long needle cheep-o tree we have gotten every other year.  I have to admit that I do like it more than I thought I would.  Well another year has come and gone, we will see how the tradition turns out next year.