Our trip to the new Charlotte IKEA

We have been waiting for months for this IKEA to open. It is like a little piece of California in North Carolina for us! So, we ventured out in the rain on the opening night of IKEA Charlotte! It was AWESOME!

Very typical IKEA. Extremely huge!

Really... I just noticed that the rest of the pics are all from the food court... That has to say something about us but I'm not sure what?

The food court experience starts with grabbing a very cool and IKEA'Like food cart.

Next you grab a few awesome looking dishes including some sick looking desserts.

Even Jude had a selection of "exotic" Swedish baby foods

Then you order from the large picture menus.

Then you eat in their sweet dining area!


I got the Swedish Meatballs, home made mashed potatoes and chocolate cake... Mmmm...

They even had a baby station with a microwave, bottle warmer, baby spoons and IKEA bibs!

Jude and Brooke approve!

Weird Sightings in NC - Walmart Edition

Our family took a trip to Walmart during one of our weekly shopping runs. We usually shop at Target almost exclusively but we were close and they do have cheap stuff. Good thing my phone has a camera cause it was amazing! Check out a small sample of what we found...

What kid woundn't want a remote control Skunk with a flip up tail? I mean seriously. How did i grow up with out one!

Walmart has tons of services including Optometry, Bank, McDonald's and even a Dentist. But this hair salon was a surprise.

I found a client of the hair salon

Love him or Hate him... He's got trading cards! BTW... I'm looking for the action card from the "Joe the Plumber" encounter and am willing to trade a Shepard Fairey "Progress" card and a "Yes We Can" Speech card.

What's new with the Stopniks in North Carolina?

Britton and I had a great Birthday treat...SNOW! It didn't compare to a Colorado snow, but it was still very fun!


1. Jude is crawling...and he is fast! He also pulls himself up on everything. I doubt he will be walking by March 10th, but you never know with this wild one.


2. Brooke lost one of her front teeth and she now fits in a little better here in North Carolina. ;) And she loves to read. She read 60 pages in one sitting...


3. Britton turned 4 and can now officially chew gum! He is "King of the Legos" and he is apparently dominating in Kickball at preschool.


4. Kelley turned 30! I got a bike for my birthday (Thanks Mom, Dad and Blair) and I am now a bike riding fool...


5. Blair is happy that he is not 30 yet, but gets to make fun of me until October 11th!

Circus Fun

Today we went to the Ringling Bros. Circus for Britton's Birthday. Blair's company has season tickets to the Bobcats, so we were able to get amazing Box Seat tickets. It was so nice to be able to spread out and have a comfy chair to sit in for the show. The kids were amazed (So were Blair and I) at what a huge production this was. It was awesome!


Click Here for more circus pictures...

Jude Playing Cowboy

We went to Toys'R'Us to spend Grandpa Randy's Christmas gifts for the kids and Jude loved playing on this horse. We called him Cowboy Jude the rest of the day!

Weird Sightings in NC

The kids and I went for a ride today to a park near our house and I came across this in front of someone's front yard. Really? Is this necessary? Does it need the black piece hanging down to really bring it home exactly what the dog is doing?


I do admit, I really like McDonalds. Not everyday, but overall the food is pretty good. That said, I found a McDonalds here in NC that raises the bar for all for all food chains (except Arby's but I just choose to forget them)



Hear is the greatest thing known to food. All the standard McDonalds' sauces in a pumpable form! Amazing! One of my favorite things about the joint is the sauces and now it's unlimited... I'm just that excited...

It's Snowing and the World is ending!

These pictures were taken this morning when I was leaving for work. We heard last night that there would be 2-4 inches of snow coming and that they might close the schools. We checked several times throughout the night and some flurries started around 5:30 - 6am. We got an automated call at 6:30am that schools were closed for the day! Checkout these pictures... The roads were completely clear! We heard people were freaky about snow here but this is just funny.




Also... I was told that many of the grocery stores had sold out of bread, milk and eggs due to people "stocking up for the storm"