SUNS and Sophie....

Unfortunately, my camera battery is dead so I havent been able to take any pictures in the last couple of days! (I cant seem to find my battery charger anywhere!) Yes, we still have Sophie. I was hoping that someone would call looking for her or be interested in taking her home, but she is still with us. I am going to have to call the Humane Society tomorrow though because I am getting WAY too attached. She is sooo beautiful! So, if you are reading this, wherever you are, and you, or someone you know, would love a sweet puppy....please call me SOON!! She is just such a beautiful little girl. Maverick has been in isolation though...unfortunately, he wants nothing to do with a puppy in the house. Please pray that she will go to a very GOOD home!!!!


I picked Scott and Josh up from the airport late Friday night and they had many interesting and fun adventures to share from their Vegas trip! Last night we had the neighbors over and watched a movie together which was fun. This afternoon, Scott and I headed off to the SUNS baseball game with a few of our neighbors! We were pretty excited to go but as we were driving there we ended up in a really bad rain storm and ended up turning around and heading back. We didnt think it would be too fun to sit out in the rain! So, instead we all went to the local Ale House and watched a little MLB on the TV's! It wasn't as wet inside....

Little Miss Sophie

So, I am thinking that my business needs to start including pet sitting in it because I am now up to 4 birds and FIVE dogs. I swear, this would only happen to ME! Yes, Scott and Josh are out of town this week so I am not only hanging and watching our four dogs, I ended up bringing a puppy home last night! I know...what am I thinking??!!! Well, the only thing I could think of was that I could not stand the thought of this puppy being on its own in the dark last night. I know she doesnt look like a puppy but she is...she looks as though she is less than 6 months. She is still in that cute awkward phase, not fully fitted into her big paws yet! (She is going to be a big girl!) I was on my way home last night and saw her and when I stopped and got out, she jumped into my jeep! She was dragging a homemade, shoestring kind of leash on her but did not have a tag on her so it appears that she was tied up somewhere and got loose. I have no idea who the owners would be and none of my neighbors seemed to know who she belonged to. So, she is now staying at the Tayloe/Holder/Martin Household of Animals Hotel for the time being. I did contact Animal Control but they ended up coming when I was not home (go figure) however, I would rather find a good home for her than have Animal Control take her and do whatever it is they do with them (which I hate to even think of the possibilities). Anyway, Maverick made it very known that he wants nothing to do with a puppy around, but Sebastian has not been hard to convince...he is in LOVE! They are around the same size (at least for now!) and have been playing non-stop. I know I probably should not have (it increases attachment) but I did name her Sophie. There are just too many dogs around here, I had to give her a name so I knew who was calling to! And with all the boys around here, it is fun to have a little girl here! I am not sure what kind of dog she is (I dont know my dog breeds too well)...she seems to be a mix like Grahamy though...maybe some German Shephard? Some Lab? Some Doberman Pincher? Some Rottweiler? Yep, who knows, she is just like my sweet Grahamy...anyone's best guess.

Anyway, the night is winding down...the birds are still in their cages, the dogs are playing around the house, I am trying to maintain my sanity (along with trying not to get to attached to Sophie) and Scott and Josh should be home from Vegas tomorrow. It has been quite a week!

So far, so good......

As you can see I have managed to get closer to the birds since that dreadful first weekend experience! Thankfully, so far they have stayed INSIDE their cages which has been quite a blessing! There are actually 4 birds, but I just included two of them here (the other two are gray and not as pretty as these 2!!) The red one is Sam, and he has quite the personality. We have definitely gotten used to each other over the past couple of weeks and I have a routine down with them. Instead of being squawked at and trying to escape me, I am now greeted with "Hello", "Hola", and "Good Morning". I have been trying to get them to say "Stephanie rocks and is the best bird-sitter ever" but I think I am shooting my hopes up a little too high......

A weekend of fun adventures!

This weekend Jeremy was in Jax visiting and we enjoyed spending time together! (For those of you who don't know, Jeremy and I dated back in 2004-2005!) We had dinner with Scott and Josh before they headed to Denver and Vegas (they are blogging their excursion so be sure and catch up with them at www.joshtayloe.com/blog) and then we went down to St. Augustine on Saturday. Unfortunately, it poured on us but we still had a good time and ate at a great Irish pub down there. (Ya just can't beat good ol' Fish and Chips!) Sunday we took my 'boys' to the beach and enjoyed the sunny day and some great water time with Maverick. He was IN HEAVEN playing ball and hanging out in the ocean. He played frisbee with us while Graham found some nice shade underneath the jeep! We thought it was an off-leash beach but unfortunately, someone came by to tell us that Mave had to be put on a leash otherwise we would be fined. Fortunately though, we had already gotten in a couple of hours of playtime so Mave was tired by that point anyway! As you can see though, Graham is certainly not afraid of the water anymore and even hung out in the ocean with us for a bit!


Also, as you can see there is a picture that I added to this blog that I could not resist sharing. These were the people that parked on the beach next to us! I have heard about the Gator fans out here, but holy cow! There was even a Gator Head on the hood of the truck!!! Unbelievable. All I can say is that it was quite the pimped out truck!

Crazy things happen on full moon nights...

So, tonight the boys and I went out to Olive Garden to celebrate the fact that Scott is OFFICIALLY done with school! He did walk in May for his Masters degree, however, he still had one more class to finish up and tonight was the final test for the class. He passed and was on cloud 29 tonight! However, his high spirits came down a bit when we got to the Olive Garden and found out they were OUT of breadsticks! That is the main reason to GO to Olive Garden! The OG is Scott's favorite restaurant so he was a bit disheartened when we were told that we would not have breadsticks with our salad and/or dinner. Someone had been sent to another OG location to pick up breadsticks and we were determined to stay until they came back! So, thankfully we finally did get breadsticks...for dessert! Scott's spirits soared again and we laughed when we drove home and noticed that there was a full moon out tonight.

Disappointing Dbacks...

Dbacks lost the series this weekend, and I lost a bet! My word is good though...Coldstone ice cream on me baby! (And they were playing the Royals...who would have thunk?!)

In case you were wondering....

I know it has been a whole week since I have blogged last and a few of you were asking what was going on with me! I have been on the go since getting back from AZ last weekend and I am just now getting an afternoon of laziness which is nice since it is a rainy day out today in the SUNSHINE STATE (yes, I still don't get that). Anyway, I wanted to show off Graham's new "hairless" look for those of you who have never seen it before! It is starting to get VERY hot and humid in FL so it was time to get Graham shaved. He always looks a bit funny the first few weeks without all of his fur, but he is sooo cute! He looks like a little lion.

Anyway, the past couple of weeks have been crazy with planning upcoming strategies and logistics for the business, and on a personal level as well! All is very good though and I will explain and share more after this coming weekend. ;) Other than that, the Tayloe/Holder/Martin household has been busy with work, working out, helping friends move, and hanging out with our wonderful neighbors as often as we can! Oh, and I am bird-sitting again! However, thankfully this time (so far)...the birds have stayed in their cages. THANK GOD!

To share a quote for the day...."Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad." To all of the dads out there......have a wonderful Father's Day!!!!

GO DIAMONDBACKS!

WOOHOO! Chipotle!

After our motorcycle ride on Sunday afternoon, I went to Chipotle with my friends, Paul, Tricia, Chad and Frances. It was oh-so yummy and I was thrilled to have Chipotle again! To all my AZ friends, it was a fun weekend and it was so good to be 'home' for a visit! God is good!

A boob job and a face lift...for FREE!

When you take a motorcycle ride you tend to get a free face lift, and if you happen to stop in Tortilla Flat, AZ you can get a free boob job if you stand behind one of the bathroom doors! (I think it is the first time I have ever had cleavage! haha!) When I was in AZ this weekend I was able to spend a little bit of time with my friend, Chad. He will be starting a new chapter and adventure in his life when he moves to Australia very soon for his job. So, I was happy to have the opportunity to hang out with him AND was very happy to get another motorcycle ride from him before he moves to the other side of the world! We had a beautiful day for a ride through the mountains. We went up to Canyon Lake and stopped by Tortilla Flat for some fun pictures. (And don't worry mom....I wore a helmet!)

Me and my AZ girlfriends....

It was so much fun surprising most of my AZ girlfriends with my visit this past weekend! Some of them did not know that I was coming in and I got some great reactions! It was so much fun! It was perfect timing to be in town too as my pastor and his wife had an Open House for our church on Sunday afternoon so I was able to catch up with a lot of people while I was in town. The top picture is my LifeGroup, the middle picture is my friend, Frances (and her dog, Ricco) that I stayed with over the weekend, and the bottom picture is a lot of the girls from my church!

An opportunity to be 'HOME'!

I was blessed this weekend as I was able to spend some time in AZ! I met new friends, hung out with old friends, caught up with friends, and said good-bye to friends. I am so thankful to God for the people who I have met in my life and for the many friendships that I have. My friend Bryan and I took a hike Saturday morning on one of my favorite mountains, South Mountain. We ventured out on a new trail and it was a beautiful and very fun hike!

Out to celebrate!

Tonight we rounded up the neighbors to go out and celebrate!

We had some awesome Mexican food, great laughs, and

ended the night with Marble Slab ice cream!

We have the best neighbors EVER!

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!!!

We are officially a small business!!! I am not a side hobby/side business anymore! Papers have been signed! This is a very exciting day and new step into making this company expand! Here is the biggest news......we are changing the name. I know that I had mentioned to some of you that we were planning on shortening the name down to Brighten Your Day! however Scott (my more wiser, more business-minded brother) came up with something completely different. It will not be unveiled for another couple of months but I would just like to announce the up and coming business of

FRANNIE'S!!!

Now some of you may be quite confused so I will have to fill you in here. This is not something that many people know, nor had I wanted to share with many people, but I am going to have to spill the beans. Last year I wrote a children's book manuscript and I have been working diligently to get it published. (It has not happened yet but I am still hoping and praying). In the meantime, one of my very good friends had sketched up a picture of Frannie for me for the book. She is an amazing artist and brought Frannie to life. My brother knew of Frannie (the name is from my late step-grandma) and brought up the thought of having her as the "mascot" for the company. Even though I have loved my business name and sunshine logo, if you look at most successful businesses they usually have a one-name business name and the logo is highly marketable. Think about all of the well-known places such as Target, Starbucks, Michaels, Walgreens, HALLMARK (which I still hope to overtake one day), and thousands of one-name restaurants that we all shop and dine at. And, we all know what their logo is even if their name is not attached. Brighten Your Day! is a big name and the sunshine (even though I love it) is quite generic.

So, that is the story behind FRANNIE'S! We will be starting work on the new website and getting other logistics lined up in the next couple of months and we hope to share the world with FRANNIES in August. And please know that nothing about my products or services will be changing...just the name. I will still be making cards, painting rooms, and creating scrapbooks, it will just be under FRANNIE'S. However, as of now, Cards that BRIGHTEN your day! is still up and going so you can still refer to that name for now.

Your business, support, and prayers are much appreciated as we embark on yet another new adventure!

wishes

Happy Anniversary Bill and Rachel!

Much love, your lil' sis