Great customer service and a new family job resume picture!

Before we went to Virginia Beach, I had mentioned to Rebecca how I would like to take "dress up" pictures with Ethan.

Well, we drove to VA Beach, and Saturday morning Rebecca went to a shop to look for an umbrella stroller for Ethan. Directly across from our hotel she saw Flashback Old Time Photos and told me about it. After lunch, we walked over and decided to take some pictures. We bought a couple of pictures, and left with them and I kept thinking after we left..."Strange, they didn't offer us a CD or anything."

Well it kept bugging me, and I ended up calling them the Thursday, September 17, after we had gotten back from the beach. I was told to call back on Friday, and speak with the manager which I did.

Long story short, their equipment was messing up, which is why they weren't offering CDs or digital copies of the pictures....BUT, the manager downloaded the pictures to a Compact Flash card, took it home, then burned the pictures to a CD and mailed them to us(he even included the memory card for safe measure in case the CD didn't burn correctly)! The package arrived on Friday, September 25.

Yes, we did pay for it, but the manager didn't have to do it and he didn't even act like it was a big deal and I greatly appreciated him taking his time to do it for us.

If you're ever at Virginia Beach, and looking to take some "Old Time Photos", I highly suggest going to Flashback Old Time Photos. If you stop by, say hello to Jay for us. They have two locations on Virginia Beach:

2018 Atlantic Avenue

1702 Atlantic Avenue

So, what pictures did we take?

With all the talk of a down economy and very little job security these days, we decided to create a family job resume portrait.

Our new family job may soon be off the coast of Somalia.

Random Happenings of the Last Two Weeks!

My parents and grandma left NC on Tuesday, September 15. Their flight was a late afternoon flight on Tuesday. Before they left on Tuesday, my mom and grandma taught me how to play the card game, Shanghai Rummy, which was fun.

Rebecca, Ethan, and I went out to the Greek Festival in Raleigh,On Saturday, September 19. There was live Greek music, people dressed in Greek clothing doing Traditional Greek Dancing, and lots of Greek food. I(Scott) had the Greek meal, mousaka, which is a layered eggplant dish. Rebecca had lamb kabobs, I think... We also shared baklava for our dessert. The music was pretty loud, so we didn't stay very long with Ethan.

Scott and Ethan at the Greek Festival.

Mr. Ethan looks like he is wondering what the loud noise was.

Rebecca, Ethan, and I went to Michael's(the craft store) and bought a frame for one of the family portraits and then we walked down to Barnes & Noble. This was on Monday, September 21.

While we were at Barnes & Noble, we put Diana Gabaldon's new book, An Echo in the Bone, on hold for Rebecca. Rebecca and I then each ordered a Pumpkin Spiced Latte.

This was the first of two strange events while ordering food during the last two weeks. We asked for the seasonal Pumpkin Spiced Latte, expecting it hot, not cold or frozen, and somehow the drinks were prepared blended and iced...we just looked at each and laughed about it, not saying anything to the guy that fixed them for us and we enjoyed them cold.

Later in the week, I went to pick up the book we had reserved for Rebecca and while I was out, I stopped by Panera Bread to pick us up supper. We both got a "You Pick Two" meal, with half a sandwich and a half order of soup. I ordered their black bean soup only to get home and end up having potato soup instead...again, I enjoyed the potato soup, and didn't call to complain or anything. I just find it odd how it happened twice in one week of ordering food items, that the orders ended up slightly different somehow.

So, the questions are...should I have said something, but just taken what I had, or said something and made them fix it right? Or just enjoy the food that we ordered like we did? What would you have done?

Sacred Marriage

Over the period of the last two years, we've had the privilege of reading and going through several marriage books and studies with some of our friends.

I(Scott) would say the purpose we are doing these studies, isn't because our marriage is struggling, but because we want to keep our marriage on the right track with Biblical insight. Reading different authors' opinions on the topic of marriage, with a Biblical backing, is a way we have found to help us in that area.

Some of the books and studies we've been through are:

The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman

Two Becoming One by Don and Sally Meredith

Cinderella Meets the Caveman by David E. Clarke

The Book of Hosea (from the Old Testament in the Bible)

Each book or study has had things we agree with, and things we disagree with, but we've enjoyed reading them and discussing them together and taking them as an opportunity to work on our marriage together.

Right now, Rebecca and I are having the privilege to read through the book, Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas, with some of our friends. We are reading one to two chapters each week for discussion, and so far we have read and discussed the first three chapters of the book. Sacred Marriage has become my favorite marriage book, even though we are only a few chapters into it right now.

Have you read any marriage book(s) or been to any seminar(s) that encouraged you on where to keep the focus of your marriage? If so, we would love to know what those have been. If you have any questions about any of the books/studies we've been through, feel free to ask us about them and we'll gladly give our opinions on them.

Virginia Beach!

My parents and grandma flew up on September 11th and we rented a van, and loaded it up then traveled up to Virginia. On the trip up, we dropped my grandma off at my Uncle Steve's house near Richmond, VA and ate supper with them.

Then Rebecca, Ethan, my parents, and I continued on from my uncle's house Friday night, and arrived at our hotel on Virginia Beach a little after 10p.m.!

We stayed at the Comfort Inn & Suites Oceanfront, right on the boardwalk(not really boards as it's actually paved!?).

We stayed three nights, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and checked out Monday morning.

The hotel had a "free deluxe continental breakfast" every morning that we ate, but we would go out for lunch and dinner.

Saturday morning right outside the hotel, along Atlantic Avenue, there was a Shriner's parade and my dad went and watched that for a little while, and my mom and Rebecca went looking at some shops. I stayed in the room with Ethan while he was trying to take his morning nap.

Here's a run down of our events:

Friday: Checked in around 10p.m.

Saturday: Ate breakfast around 9a.m. at the hotel.

Saturday after lunch at SUBWAY, Rebecca and I took "old time photos" with Ethan at a shop right across from our hotel, the pictures should be uploaded soon.

Saturday afternoon, pawpaw stayed in the room with Ethan while he was attempting another nap. Rebecca, my mom, and I went walking along the boardwalk...the walk back is where I decided to get low bloodsugar...I can count on one hand how many times in five years this has happened and of course it would happen when we get to the beach! Two cokes and about 20 minutes later I was fine, and we continued our walk.

Saturday night we drove out to Captain George's Seafood Restaurant because we had heard from the workers at the hotel, as well as a lady when we were leaving the hotel, that it was, "REALLY GOOD!". It was a huge buffet, and I was able to get crab legs for the first time in a long time, but it wasn't as good, in my opinion, as what everybody was saying. If you ever go to Virginia Beach and people are recommending Captain George's...just know it's like a typical buffet, with some seafood though.

Sunday: Sunday morning we ate breakfast, then decided to go to visit the Cape Henry Lighthouse. After not knowing where we were going for an hour, we finally discovered the location...which was only 10 minutes away from our hotel!

We grabbed lunch at McDonald's on the way back to the hotel.

Sunday afternoon, my aunt, uncle, two cousins and grandma came over from near Richmon, VA and spent the afternoon hanging out at the beach. They left after supper, which was at Angelo's By The Sea. After supper, we went walking down the baordwalk and took some photos by some of the sculptures along it.

Monday: Packed up, ate breakfast and checked out around 9:30a.m. and headed back home.

The Five Year Flashback

This is a work in progress...

July 10, 2004: Rebecca and I were married in Louisiana!

July 11-17, 2004: Honeymooned in Miami, Florida on Miami Beach!

August 2004: Involved in a car accident where a woman rear-ended us,

while we were sitting at a red light.

October 3, 2004: My 22nd Birthday, the day we picked up our second pug, Barret.

November 2004: First Thanksgiving together as a married couple

December 2004: First Christmas together being married

January 2005: Made a trip to North Carolina, so Rebecca could interview at two hospital locations to decide on an internship to finish her degree. We stayed with our friend Nathan in South Carolina and were introduced to his "friend" Miranda. We also watched Napoleon Dynamite for the first time EVER, with Nathan and Will.

May 18th/19th: May 19th was the release of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, so we had a Star Wars party at our house on May 18, with food and friends...then we all traveled together to the movie theater to watch the midnight showing. Rebecca and I dressed up for the movie, along with two other friends, S. Breland and Eddie.

May/June 2005: Rebecca was accepted at both hospitals she interviewed with, but decided that Winston Salem was the better fit. We packed up the house with the help of friends and family, and hit the road for North Carolina. This time, we had everything with us, not knowing where we would be moving in Winston Salem. We stayed at our friend's, Nathan, again in South Carolina, until we found a house to rent in Winston Salem...this was the crazy trip where we proved ourselves idiot pet owners(just ask our dogs and they'll tell you what happened, they actually lived to bark about it).

July 2005: I started working at Best Buy in Winston Salem, Rebecca was working at Johnny Carino's about 40 minutes away from our house, right outside of Charlotte, she transferred from Louisiana to the location.

July 10, 2005: Our ONE YEAR wedding anniversary!

October 2005: Miya had her first, and only, litter of puppies...seven total, five survived and we kept one, Lili.

December 2005: Laying in bed one night, I smelled smoke, looked out the kitchen window to see flames coming from a house in the neighborhood. The house was lost, but everybody got out without injury.

July 10, 2006: Our SECOND wedding anniversary.

July/August 2006: Packed up our entire house by ourselves and loaded it onto a moving truck, then unloaded it into a storage unit...talk abour horrid!

August 2006: Cruise to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel

August 2006: Moved from Winston Salem, NC, to Carrboro(Chapel Hill), NC where Rebecca started working at the University of North Carolina Hospital

October 10, 2006: Rebecca took me to the Nintendo Fusion Tour concert in Winston Salem, NC, where we heard Relient K(among other bands) and were able to play the Wii before it was released.

November 2006: Drove to Columbia, SC to try and camp out with our friend Nathan, in order to buy a PS3 and sell it Ebay...we were successful in driving to Columbia, but we were not successful in buying a PS3 as the lines had already started the Friday night we showed up.

June 9, 2007: I was a groomsman in Nathan and Miranda's wedding in Columbia, SC.

September 30, 2007: An entire apartment building, in our complex, burned to the ground.

October 2007: Went to Washington D.C. for my first time ever. Had a great time with Rebecca and my mom and dad.

November 6, 2007: Involved in a car accident, another person I knew! My car and her car were totaled.

November 2007: Visited family in Louisiana for Thanksgiving.

January 2008: Started looking at houses with Rebecca.

April 2008: Signed papers/initial contract on house. Visited family in Lousiana and celebrated Rebecca's b-day with family.

July 10, 2008: Our 4 year wedding anniversary was spent driving to a car auction in Greensboro, NC, trying to find me a car! We did get back into town and went to downtown Chapel Hill and had some hot chocolate with cayenne pepper from a cafe.

July 18, 2008: Closed on the house and moved into it that night.

July 2008: Received a 'free' car from our friends', Will and Jenna, neighbor. A 1993 Toyota Corolla, nicknamed Oreo.

August 10, 2008: Rebecca told me I was an expectant Father...

August 15, 2008: Traveled to Charlotte, NC with Rebecca and met Nathan and Zach, to watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars on opening night.

September 2008: My family, mom, dad, Wayne, Heather, and Truett, all flew up and visited us.

October 2008: Rebecca's mom and grandma flew up and visited us.

November 2008: Rebecca's dad came up for Thanksgiving.

January 2009: Flew down to Louisiana and visited with family, Rebecca's mom had a baby shower planned, and it went extremely well and Rebecca was surprised because she had no idea it was planned.

April 2009: Crazy, awesome month! I was diagnosed with MRSA, two weeks before our son was due. I was on antibiotics, and had three visits to the clinic...then was given the clear. Rebecca was diagnosed with some sort of bacterial infection, and she was put on antibiotics as well.

Our son, Ethan, was due on/around April 15th...he decided he would be like his mom and dad are going everywhere and be late.

April 27, 2009: Went to the hospital for induction, a day of Pitocin induction, with very little(if any results).

April 28, 2009: Morning started early, with more Pitocin for Rebecca. Our son, Ethan Alexander Mullins, was born at 9:41p.m. this night!

May 30, 2009: Ethan's first trip outside of the house(other than to doctor's visits). Trip to the mall to visit the Lego store's grand opening weekend.

June 2009: Ethan's first time flying. Flew to Louisiana for my PawPaw Pete's funeral.

July 10, 2009: Five year wedding anniversary!

July 2009: Mrs. Christine and Cara(Ethan's cousin) flew up and visited us for a few days. We had fun and actually discovered Pullen Park in Raleigh.

September 2009: My parents and grandma flew up. Rebecca, Ethan and I, along with my parents, went to Virginia Beach for a few days.