The Beahm Family!

The Beahms - A Family of 4!

2012-01-02T22:43:00.003-05:00

It's still hard to believe that we are now a family of 4! Claire Noelle has been with us for 10 days now and it's been exciting, action packed, crazy, adventurous....all at the same time!!

I pulled out the camera this weekend and took a few pictures. I am definitely not a professional photographer, but hopefully you will enjoy these pictures as much as we do!

Direct Link to the pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/cmbunc/ClaireNoelleBeahm1Week?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Claire Noelle Beahm joins our family!

2011-12-23T12:45:00.003-05:00

We welcomed into this world Claire Noelle Beahm last night! She was born 6 lb 8 oz and is beautify and healthy!

She is our beautiful little Christmas present and she is a blessing from God!

Enjoy some pictures of our daughter here (we'll continue to update with more throughout the week):

https://picasaweb.google.com/110880423741611966478/ClaireNoelleBeahm

Thanks for all the love and prayers!

Chris & Melissa Beahm

The Beahm's on Vacation

2011-07-05T23:44:00.004-04:00

We recently returned from a family vacation to Pawley's Island. It was a great time to relax and enjoy some family time away from the worries of work! It was also great because Lucy loved both the beach and the pool. We were able to snap a few pictures and videos of the fun....enjoy the links or embedded videos below!

Lucy is REALLY growing up! She just turned 2 years old and she is little miss independent these days!

Video of Lucy at the Pool:

Direct Link (HD Quality): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NoUxmCjeyk&hd=1

A Few Picture Highlights from the trip:

Or View the Entire Slideshow:

Beahm Beach Trip 2011

Direct Link: https://picasaweb.google.com/cmbunc/BeahmBeachTrip2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Lucy and Bailey...the story continues

2011-03-14T21:29:00.004-04:00

This latest video shows a typical morning at our house. Lucy loves chasing Bailey, and he LOVES being chased! A match made in heaven....

There's not much I can say...enjoy the video! I stuck a few more pictures from the spring at the front for you to enjoy! It features Lucy's other great passion....balloons! Good thing the grocery stores LOVE giving them out to little kids!

Click the link below if you can't see the embedded video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9vQnx8rKos&hd=1

A Conversation with Lucy....

2011-02-02T00:12:00.003-05:00

Friends, Families, fellow bloggers...

It's been way too long since we've been on to share the joys of family life and parenting! Lucy is growing up so fast and is tons of fun. She is a little sponge and is learning new things and new words every day! She's also learning new ways to get what she wants from her parents.....

We thought it was about time to post a new video of Lucy! Enjoy!

Buried Treasure...

2010-12-19T13:19:00.004-05:00

This will be the third blog in a row with some reference to Cheerios. Something about toddlers and their favorite snack food that makes life so interesting...

The other day I gave Lucy her snack cup of Cheerios to tie her over until lunch. Recently, I have found her favorite place to sit is right by our front windows, nestled up by the heating vent and the Christmas tree. I didn't really think anything of it...figured she liked the hot air from the vent, the smell of the Christmas tree...or watching people pass by on the sidewalk.

A few minutes passed and Lucy rejoined me in the kitchen asking for more food - presenting an empty snack cup. I figured she had given most to Bailey - so I refilled a few more Cheerios in the cup and followed her to make sure she ate her snack rather than giving it to the dog (see previous blog regarding feeding Bailey her snack). She took her cup and ran back to her favorite spot. This time, I watched as she took out a few Cheerios, held them out - and dropped them. "Clang...Clang...Clang" I heard....

Then it dawned on me...THE AIR VENT!!!! So I watch her again. She smiles big, looks at me....grabs a few more Cheerios. Then she looks down into the air vent - and drops another few in. I closed the air vent and proceeded to use it as a teaching event to not do this in the future. As you can see from the pictures below - it took a while (and several hand-fulls of Cheerios) to get her to understand she should not drop Cheerios down the vents.

To wrap up this funny story - I got out my vacuum, and fed the hose down the air vent to clean out the few Cheerios. The "few" Cheerios turned into a buried treasure of ~50 that I sucked out with the vacuum. I think this had been going on for a few days....

Enjoy the pictures below. Life is always an adventure with a toddler. :)

-Chris

Viral Marketing!

2010-10-16T22:33:00.009-04:00

Sometimes the internet can be a funny thing....tonight I logged onto our website to check out the "website analytics." Basically it is who is viewing your site and how much. You can typically find out a viewer's "city" and their view count.

So enough with the internet marketing lesson, and on to the funny story! So I was checking out my analytics when I noticed something funny. Typically our family videos get a few hundred views - but the latest one was off the charts with over 1200 independent viewers! WOAH...So I started doing my investigation. I noticed in my references that most views were coming from a Cheerios owned facebook site. I followed the rabbit hole and found the reason!

Someone in Cheerios (probably a social media analyst) stumbled across our video/blog and reposted it on their site! BOOM....viewership explosion! Anyway - if you want to "rewatch" the video or see the comments we got - follow the link below! Our favorite comment voiced concern over germs since Bailey licked Lucy's hand. :) Germs in our house...Melissa would not allow it!

Link to Cheerios Facebook Site

Cheerios....

2010-09-15T23:18:00.002-04:00

As I've stated in my previous posts, Lucy and Bailey are best friends. It's funny that we even spent any time worrying about how the two would interact! Check out the video below; it tells the WHOLE story! Lucy has found that the way into Bailey's heart lies with Cheerios....

Lucy at the Park!

2010-09-06T23:32:00.003-04:00

Lucy is growing up so fast these days! She's 15 Month's old, and some days I feel she runs as fast as I do! We are always chasing her around the yard, the house, and anywhere we take her!! It was the right time to introduce her to the park! We recently got to hang out at the park with some friends, where we learned that she LOVED the slide.

Enjoy the short video below of Lucy on the slide - or click the link to see it fullscreen! (It's a little shaky as I shot it on the iphone).

The Beach with the Beahms...

2010-07-19T22:49:00.006-04:00

Last week we finally snuck away for a family vacation to the beach! It was an awesome week filled with family, fun and of course food! We had 3 sets of Beahms together for the week in South Carolina!

We started the week in Charleston visiting Michael & Lynn. They were amazing hosts and we had a great time seeing their new place! We finished up the week in Pawley's Island at my parent's beach house. There were quite a few games of "Settlers of Catan" - and I have to shout out to Melissa who won 2 games!!!

Lucy had an a great time and despite trying to eat the sand, she loved the beach! We had the chance to get some great family pictures and enjoy a few sunsets at the water's edge. Click here if the slide show does not play.

Summer fun....

2010-07-04T22:34:00.000-04:00

It's been an awesome summer so far. I've graduated from Grad School, I've turned 30 (ouch), Lucy's turned 1, Lucy's started walking....wow. With a growing baby it's amazing how much changes in the blink of an eye!

She's on the move (click here if the video does not play):

Here are pictures from Mom/Mimi's Birthday & 4th of July:

Mimi's Birthday & 4th of July

And some updated pictures from the summer:

Lucy 10-12 months

We are so thankful to have been able to spend so much time with friends and family these past few weeks!

Lucy is really moving now....

2010-05-18T20:47:00.003-04:00

Lookout World...we've moved from crawling to "walking with help". Enjoy the video below and share in our joys/fears! She can really move!

If you cannot view the video in the blog, click the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtBJ6DilDiE

Hiking!

2010-04-10T18:27:00.003-04:00

It's finally nice enough (and Lucy is big enough) for the child carrying backpack we have! In honor of the incredible weather, I took her out to Umstead Park today for a little adventuring! We only went about 5 miles, but it was enough to enjoy the woods, the stream, and the sun! Enjoy the pictures below (or click the link if necessary).

For any hiking parents out there, I have to say the Kelty child carrier is incredible. Absolutely top notch and definitely worth it!

Spring is for Growing!

2010-04-06T23:48:00.003-04:00

The past few months have brought about lots of growth in the Beahm's house! Not the flowers, grass, weeds...but Lucy! She's growing up so fast! She is completely mobile and we feel she is on the verge of taking a few steps on her own!

Enjoy the spring slideshow! (Click the link if you cannot see the pictures below)

Nothing is safe....

2010-03-14T22:24:00.004-04:00

Lucy is officially crawling. While it's more of an "army crawl", she can still get across the room pretty well.

Nothing is safe anymore, including my electronics! Of course the first thing she went after was the shiny stack of home theatre components with their glowing numbers and dials. Looks like I'll have to keep those doors closed from now on!

We have LOTS of spring pictures from this last weekend at my parent's house - they will be posted soon!

Snow Day at the Beahms!

2010-01-30T17:09:00.004-05:00

We had our first snow day of 2010! We had MUCH less than was expected, and ended up with 4". Just enough to do a little sledding and let Lucy and Bailey enjoy some time outside!

Enjoy the pictures! To see the full album, you can either watch the slideshow or click over to our Albums.

Fall, Food, and Fun!

2009-12-06T21:45:00.005-05:00

Lucy is so growing up so much! We have posted a bunch of new pictures in a Fall album (Click Here or Click Pictures in the Heading). A few previews are below (including first solid food):

I also pulled off some action shots while playing with Bailey over thanksgiving! He's been such a great doggie for Lucy - he deserved a few more pics on the blog! The whole album can be viewed here:
Bailey Outdoors

Lucy and her Doggie...

2009-10-17T00:00:00.002-04:00

Lucy really loves her doggie. We recently figured out that he makes her smile, laugh, and giggle. I'll let the video tell the whole story!

Click on the link to watch the video or watch it below: Lucy & Bailey: Best Friends...

Sunrays and Saturdays...

2009-09-27T22:44:00.003-04:00

Well, one month has passed since our last blog - and so much has happened since then! Lucy is talking, walking, and can say her ABCs. Ok..so maybe not that much, but it has been an exciting month! Melissa started working again, which means I get to spend one day a week with Lucy by myself. It's typically saturdays, and I've learned to both appreciate those saturdays and the fun I get to have with my daughter as well as appreciate all that Melissa does for Lucy on a normal day! :)

Lucy has a lot more control of her hands and feet and has even been known to hold her own bottle (see picture below). She is making a lot more sounds than she used to - but none are intelligible yet - we'll have to wait a few more months....Well, enjoy the pictures! There are more over at the pictures section of our website as well.

Power Of A Smile

2009-08-21T21:40:00.006-04:00

Between the busy schedules of work and school, the word "overwhelming" comes to mind often. Sometimes, it only takes a smile to put things back in perspective. Lucy's smile melts me to my core - helps me re-prioritize what's truly important. It's amazing what a smile can do.

We've posted new pictures in our picasa gallery (click here or the link at the top of the page).

Lucy is 2 Months!

2009-08-08T15:43:00.004-04:00

Time sure does seem to fly when you have a little baby to take care of! The past 2 months have been amazing, and lots has happened since the last blog post! Lucy is smiling a lot and is able to hold her head up (for the most part). She's now 9 weeks old, 10.5 lbs, 23" long.

Below is a funny picture I snapped of Bailey as well. Not sure what he was doing...maybe yawning or something - but he looks really funny. Thought you all might like it!

Lastly, we have added a new video of Lucy over in the "videos" section at the top of the page. If you are reading this from an RSS feed, just click the link below.

New Lucy Smiling Video

Growing Up....

2009-06-27T23:09:00.007-04:00

Well, Lucy is now 3 weeks old! Amazing!! She is growing up more and more every day! Recently, She blessed us with a beautiful smile. Now all the books tell me it is probably just coincidence or gas, but I like to think it is because she is having such an amazing time with her parents.

Bailey, our other baby is doing a lot better! He was pretty depressed for a few weeks, but he is slowly getting back to his old self. He has been very gentle with Lucy and has been amazing during this transition. He just turned 6 years old this week too! Hopefully he and Lucy will grow to be best pals!

I've updated our photo albums with some pictures from our last 2 weeks! Click on Photos link in the menu, or click the link below to take you to directly to the new album:

Lucy Marie Beahm Growing Up!

Lastly, I'll share a few good pictures of the ominous clouds that came across our front porch the other day. Regardless of these, we went on our nightly walk. This routine is great not only to keep us in shape, but it puts Lucy RIGHT to sleep (in daddy's arms). Just priceless.

Wears My Baby?

2009-06-18T18:33:00.004-04:00

So one of the things that you learn quickly as a parent is how to do things while holding a baby. Make coffee while holding the baby, feed the dog while holding the baby, and even type an email while holding the baby. One arm holding baby, one arm frantically trying not to spill the coffee.

This week we ventured into the "sling" world. Amazingly it is not some parallel universe or high tech baby device. It is something that has been around for centuries, dare I say millennia. A sheet and a few rings. So, I must say that we are now fans.

While I have read it makes your baby smarter, stronger, and builds a tighter familiar bond - I cannot vouch for any of that yet. BUT I can say that I now have 2 free hands and made dinner and typed this blog with amazing speed.

Thanks to my sister Jenny for gifting us some hand crafted slings and for teaching us the way of the mighty sling. I believe it is often called the art of "wearing your baby."

Lots more pictures of Lucy!

2009-06-10T07:46:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone! So I we have taken LOTS more pictures of Lucy. When I say lots...I mean at least a few hundred! But don't worry, we hand picked out the best 50 pictures of her and our wonderful visitors! I am embedding the slide show in the blog here, but feel free to click the link to go to the full slideshow.

Lucy Marie Beahm Birth

Thanks to everyone who has helped us over these first few days! You have all been lifesavers!

Lucy Marie Beahm

2009-06-07T16:21:00.001-04:00

Hey Friends & Family!

Today, on June 7th 2009 we were blessed with our new baby. Lucy Marie
Beahm was born at 9:15 AM. She was 7 lbs, 6 oz and 19" long. Baby
Lucy is really tired and we have spent most of the day meeting her and
letting her sleep in our arms. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and
prayers during the birth!

I am including a handful of pictures we took today, and we'll get more
out over the next few days!

Chris, Melissa & Lucy Beahm

Due Date + 3 = Still Waiting...

2009-06-06T11:55:00.004-04:00

Well, the baby is still in "growing" mode - which means we are still anxiously waiting. Next Tuesday Night (the 9th) we will start inducing if she has not made her appearance. In the mean time, I had a wonderful birthday filled with excitement and of course Moe's (my current favorite eating spot).

Below is Melissa at ~40.5 weeks. Bailey, well he was just being himself.

Forest Creatures....

2009-05-30T09:17:00.006-04:00

So as you can tell from the recent blogs, we are in the "waiting" period where we find every way possible to try to send Melissa into labor! I have my bets on June 5th. An old wives tale is to go on a nice long walk, so we packed the camera, some water, the cell phone (incase of emergency labor), and headed off to Umstead Park in Raleigh.

While there's about 20 miles of trails, we chose to play it a little safe and headed back on the company mill trail (only about 3 miles). We did see some cool creatures (aka bugs, lizards, and snakes) while we were hiking - so enjoy the pictures below!

All this wild adventuring reminded me of the fact that they are coming out with a movie of one of my favorite childhood books. I think this book has captured the adventurous spirit of boys for years - hopefully the movie will do it justice (since the book is only 40 pages long and is mostly pictures). ;) You guessed it...Where the Wild Things Are. Click the link for the official trailer:

http://wherethewildthingsare.warnerbros.com/

A Flowery Meadow....the Nursery

2009-05-28T21:03:00.009-04:00

The nursery has pretty much been done for a few days, but we've finally had time to put the finishing touches on everything - so here are the pictures! The room has been an act of kindness by lots of friends and family! We are so blessed to have such awesome friends and families who have put in so much hard work to help pull the nursery together. There are memories and gifts hidden amongst this flowery meadow we call the nursery. I'll highlight a few...

The valance was beautifully hand crafted by my mom (Momma Beahm)

The painting and fan were hard work by our friends the Merithews. The crib was an awesome gift from Melissa's parents.

The door painting was hand crafted by Erin Ussery. The dresser is 3rd generation from the Buckleys (refinished to match the crib set).

The nursery would not be complete without some sheep. Lisa and our family and friends really came through with some great sheep decorations to highlight Melissa's love for sheep. The sheep still fit the "meadow" theme. ;)

Thanks to everyone who has helped us get ready for our baby!

The Balance of Power....

2009-05-27T23:07:00.004-04:00

This is a tribute to the Beahm Fellas. There is only a few more days where we have the majority vote in the house! Then it will be 2 guys vs 2 girls! The countdown is 6 days until the June 3rd due date and we all meet baby girl Beahm!

Bailey looks completely clueless to what's about to happen...

And me of course...super excited, but a little nervous. ;)

Bellies, Beagles, and Bunnies

2009-05-14T22:49:00.006-04:00

Well, it's been a few weeks since my last post....currently we are about 2 weeks away from our due date (June 3). We are really really thankful for the blessing that all of our friends and family have been over the past few months! We've had a few baby showers, nursery help, and quite a bit of helpful advice! Melissa continues to look awesome and our baby continues to get bigger by the day. Estimations put the baby somewhere around 5.5 pounds right now - so she's getting there!

As for our other baby, bailey, I wonder if he even has a clue what is about to happen. :) When I got home today, I took Bailey outside only to see a giant bunny chowing down on my grass (or weeds). So what did my Beagle do? He sauntered out into the yard completely oblivious to the invader. Bailey did not even notice the bunny, and the bunny sure did not seem to care about the dog. They got within 5 feet of each other (see picture), absolutely ridiculous.

Stay Tuned!

The Beahms in Boston

2009-04-10T10:15:00.007-04:00

Hey Everyone! Those of you who subscribe to my brother's blog, sorry for the duplication of blog - but I wanted to post a few pictures and stories from our amazing Boston trip last weekend!

My brother lives in Boston and is currently going to Gordon Caldwell Theological Seminary. He and his amazing wife Lynn hosted us for a visit last weekend. We had an awesome time walking around Boston, Newburyport, Ipswitch, Salem, Beverly, and South Hamilton. Its amazing how close everything is up there!

Hanging out with the other Beahms was our main priority, but we had several other highlights! Here they are:

1. Chocolate Covered Peeps: My new favorite food in the whole world. It combines two of my loves....Peeps...and Chocolate. These are going to be hard to find since they are hand dipped in chocolate, but I might have to special order these from Winfreys!

2. Homemade Pizza: Lynn's homemade pizza, which we ate while watching the UNC Final Four game. It was amazing. I can't wait to get to enjoy this delicacy some other time!

3. Fudge: All kinds of fudge....Peanut Butter Chocolate, Chocolate Caramel Cashew, Kalua Irish Creme, Chocolate Mint....they were all amazing.

4. Visiting MIT: Yes, it made me feel smarter and dumber all at the same time.

5. GROG: Melissa has a new favorite food. I am not sure if we be able to make this homemade, but it is worth a try someday. It was Butternut Squash Ravilo in a Cider sauce. I don't even know what some of those foods are (Chris). :) I had Fish & Chips (fresh caught) which was amazing.

6. Boston Boyston St Apple Store: Thanks to a cord malfunction with my macbook, I had to make an emergency trip to the Boston Apple store. This 3 story building is more of a work of art than a store. It was awesome, with it's three story glass front and glass stairwell.

The whole trip was amazing and the sugar on top was hanging out with the Beahms (Michael and Lynn)! They were awesome hosts. It's our last big trip for a while since the baby is due in 7-8 weeks!

-Chris

Happy Birthday Hungary Caterpillar

2009-03-20T00:42:00.004-04:00

Every now and then, you come across something you just HAVE to share with your family and friends. Today, that happened upon visiting Google's home page. Upon seeing a little green caterpillar weaving through the Google words, I was excited to learn that it is the 40th anniversary of the "Very Hungary Caterpillar."

I am not sure why, but just thinking about the book makes me smile and reminisce about being 4 years old. I look forward to sharing the joy of this book with my future daughter in a few year. ;)

Home page of the author of the Very Hungary Caterpillar:
http://www.eric-carle.com/home.html

When Food Goes Bad.....

2009-03-14T19:21:00.004-04:00

I know all of you out there have had similar experiences, but this one just made us laugh. So today while we were digging through the cabinets to find the mac & cheese for dinner, we stumbled across a hamburger helper we had bought sometime way in the past. Cheezy Baked Potato....yum...that sounds good.

So going to check the date, Melissa let's out a laugh. September 9, 2005. Hmmm....That means it is almost 4 years out of date?! I think that MUST be some sort of record. It's always that stuff in the "way back" of the cabinet. Don't worry - we ended up sticking with the Mac & Cheese that we bought last week.

3rd Trimester

2009-03-10T19:58:00.003-04:00

Well, we have blown through the 2nd Trimester and into the 3rd! The nursery is coming right along and I have even built the crib. Once we finish decorating, I'll toss a picture up on here as well. I will share with you a picture of my beautiful wife.

Settlers & Car Alarms...

2009-03-05T23:19:00.005-05:00

So last weekend we had an awesome time eating wings and playing Settlers of Catan with our friends the Merithews. The game was riveting and Melissa came away with the victory thanks to a victory point card! I think she has an advantage since she is really two people (being pregnant and all).

Besides all the good food and fun, we had one of those Beahm Ingenuity moments. We've had several of those moments over the past few years. Many of you are familiar with the "stain" that was really a fanblade shadow, and the possessed digital frame that had was on a timer....this weekend we had another one of those moment....

So Melissa and I pulled into a parking space at our friend's apartment complex. I grabbed the board game, got out of the car and lock the door as I shut the door. Melissa had not yet opened her car door as my door closes. Being locked inside the car, she manually unlocked her car door and opened the door......

So...can you guess what happened? You got it, the car alarm starts going off! The loud and obnoxious car alarm breaks the silence in the parking lot. Melissa and I stand looking bewildered that the alarm is going off. I put the game on the car roof and reach for the "beeper" to turn off the alarm. Do I have the beeper? No....I only carry the actual key. I ask Melissa if she has the beeper...."no, I only have the key."

Ok...so I figure if we hit the door unlock button, the alarm will turn off. Melissa toggle the door lock button. Nothing....the alarm continues to sound. GRR....so I think...it will stop if I start the car. Vroom...The car starts....does the alarm stop? Nope! Now I've got the car running AND the alarm sounding. WHAT?!?!?! What madness is this. Melissa and I look at each other bewildered. Melissa hits the flashers...doesn't help. I turn off and then back on the car....the alarm still sounds. At this point we are attracting attention.

I am wondering if the alarm is stuck and I am going to have to let it time out. But what if it takes 10 minutes before it stops?! I am waking this entire apartment complex up!! I figure I HAVE to get the car out of the apartment complex to somewhere less populated. Maybe the shopping center down the street....

So I start the car and pull out of the parking space....alarm still going. Melissa looks at me and says..."just drive...just drive home!!" I just wanted to get out of the apartment complex!! As I pull out of the complex, I hear something slide off the roof and hit the ground. THE BOARD GAME!! I pull over and jump out of the car to grab the game.

As I go to get back in the car (with the alarm still sounding)...it hits me. The outside door lock. I put the key in the door and turn and hold....and....beep...beep......the car unlocks again and the alarm stops. I stare at my reflection in my door window just shaking my head. As I open the door, Melissa and I just start laughing hysterically.

Cold, and a little dumbfounded, we pulled back into the complex and park. Our friends meet us laughing, and told us that their neighbors thought we stealing a car and were just about to call the cops.

You just can't make these these things up.

Valentine's Day at the Beahms!

2009-02-14T23:05:00.004-05:00

Melissa has now crossed the 6 month mark and the baby is growing every day!

To celebrate valentines day, we celebrated by having a little feast together - which included heart shaped pancakes for brunch and a fondue banquet for dinner with everything from steak to hotdogs. We are all getting a little bigger these days. ;)

Snow Day in Raleigh!

2009-01-20T17:30:00.003-05:00

Well, in true Raleigh form - the snow today shut down the entire city! Only the most major roads were plowed and those of us who could, worked from home!

It was the first major snow since Bailey was a puppy. Most of the time it's been ice. We took advantage of the situation and took him out to play. Enjoy the pictures below! It was really funny since the 7 inches of snow were just about the height of his little legs.

The Ladies in my Life!

2009-01-10T00:29:00.003-05:00

I'll use the family blog to give a shout out to the ladies in my life....my wife and my future daughter! For those of you who have not heard, we are having a girl! I am including a picture of both of them! I'll have to get a new picture of Melissa up, this is a little old.

Thankful for things seen and unseen....

2008-11-29T16:50:00.003-05:00

So this thanksgiving, we are happy for all of our blessing! What we are most thankful for is our growing family! Melissa is about 14 weeks pregnant and we are due on June 3, 2009. Enjoy the picture of baby Beahm!

Fried Food, Fireworks, Fair!

2008-10-21T22:41:00.005-04:00

Wow! It's been so long blogger friends. No excuses really, except for lots of work and lots of grad school. Still...no excuse! I'll try to be better! So tonight we wrapped up an amazing time at the NC State Fair! I really don't appreciate the fair as much as I should. I never even knew there was such a crazy/amazing place until I became a resident of RTP. College was actually my first ever Fair experience. I mean, the Snake woman, the Carnie's, the crazy food. It's all a bit much, but it has become a tradition of sorts! Where else can you get 2 corndogs for $1, a deep fried Snickers, or deep friend "Mac & Cheese." Our state fair tradition happens every year with some great friends who continue to brave the elements & crazies with us in the world of the fair!

The only ride worth riding (and probably the only ride you are guaranteed to live through), is the Gravitron (aka Starship Exodus). It has become the thing of legends....

Also legendary is Melissa's love of sheep. Anyone who has read even a portion of our blog, or has ever hung out with my wife for more than 10 minutes has probably experienced her love for sheep! Melissa got up close and personal with a sheep this year with a "friendly" sheep who was eager to jump up to introduce itself to Melly! Maybe it was cool...maybe it was a little scary. ;)

Last but not least was the "cute" goat who I thought it would be cool if I let it lick my finger. This picture was 5 seconds prior to it biting my finger. I think there is some life lesson here, but I don't really know what.

You can see all the pictures at our State Fair Picasa Page

Into the Wild....

2008-07-11T13:34:00.003-04:00

While everyone was off at the beach, having babies or eating burgers over the fourth....we planned another crazy adventure into the wilderness. This time it was a 6 day trip into the Montana Wilderness (Glacier National Park).

The trip featured about 50 miles backpacking and another 30-40 miles dayhiking both before and after the backpacking! Crazy? Oh yeah...Fun? Absolutely! Wildlife included being 10 yards from a black bear, seeing grizzlies from a far, sleeping next to deer, and meeting marmots, groundsquirrels, and big-horn sheep. The most annoying animal (and I do mean animal) was the mosquito. I think they even snuck home in my luggage!

I won't bore you with pages and pages of stories and sagas, so in "Late Night" style, I will give you the top 10 from our trip!

Top 10 fun & exciting items from the Beahm's vs Montana adventure:
1. Backpacking & Hiking through snow drifts in July!
2. Having Melissa ask for the camera instead of the bear spray when we saw the bear
3. Constant rain for almost 36 hours while backpacking
4. Using the 40 degree water as a natural refrigerator
5. Watching and waiting as the Big-Horn Sheep stopped and redirected traffic
6. Sunrise: 4:23 AM, Sunset 9:43 PM. REALLY LONG DAYS!!
7. Huckleberries (yes, like in Yogi Bear Cartoons). Melissa loves the Huckleberry Icecream
8. Killing Mosquitoes in a hotel room we stayed in
9. Fording a waist deep river (did I say the water was 40 degrees?)
10. Enjoying glacier green colored lakes below beautiful snow and glacier covered mountains

There are 305 pictures (that's purged from 512) from the trip. Since no one would sit through a slide show like that, I've picked around the top 75. I'm embedding the pictures into the blog from picasa. You can go to http://picasaweb.google.com/cmbunc if you are having trouble seeing them with the flash slideshow.

Thanks and hope you enjoy the pictures!

That trip was "smoking..."

2008-06-17T22:56:00.002-04:00

This last weekend I went on an "adventure" trip with some guys from my Church. It was a great time of fun and fellowship, but one thing stood out: the smoke. For those of you NOT located in middle or eastern NC, we have been tormented by smoke from wildfires in a wildlife refuge near the coast. You can read about in on WRAL. Our Kayaking trip started clear, but got worse through the morning and ended with very low visibility. We didn't get to see any alligators, but it did make for a once in a lifetime trip!

Check out this picture of us all in the "ominous" smoke.

Here are a few other pictures I took that were "blog-worthy" from the trip!

My Awesome Wife

2008-05-23T18:04:00.003-04:00

So many of you may know that this weekend is our 5 year wedding anniversary! The years go by so fast! It's hard to believe that she has put up with me for that long, and I still wonder how I ended up getting a ring on her finger! I definitely married up!

A few things you may or may NOT know about my awesome wife:

1. She has backpacked above 13,000 feet and will be joining me on a 60 mile trek through the Montana Wilderness this summer! WOW!

2. She has a fascination for sheep! We have almost as many pictures of sheep as we of Bailey! Here's a shot of her with some baby sheep at the Biltmore Estate.

3. She has been in 2 advertisements: a TV commercial for Wakemed and a print ad for UNC Hospital. I am definitely married to a star!

So here's to many many more Anniversaries! I love you darling! Love, Chris

Spoofing & April Fools

2008-03-31T23:38:00.006-04:00

When Melissa and I get home from work, we usually trade stories about what we did that day at work! It typically involves lots of IT acronyms and medical terms, just to show how little we really know about what we each do! Lots of "pic-lines" and "heart caths" and "IV tubes" positioned against "VBScript," ".NET" and "WMI."

Today Melissa told me that she got an email saying she had won $200! "Really?!" I asked? She responded that all she had to do was put in her Debit Card, Pin Number, Security Code, and Expiration Date. Of Course she didn't give out our information and we all know that this email was "Spam" (or the technical term would be "spoofing")....but it just blew my mind to see how ridiculous the ploys have become to steal money and identities. I saved a picture for posterity of the crazy attempt to steal my life and $.

So this is kind of a "reverse" April fools...it is more like a reminder or warning! Phone, Email, Mail...it comes from everywhere. No, you didn't hit the lottery, the son of deposed king of Nigeria does not want to give you money (reference to The Office), and sending a certified check to someone will not return 100% profit!

One Giant Leap for Beagles

2008-02-13T22:06:00.004-05:00

Today Bailey got a cookie to celebrate a huge step for beagles everywhere! Uno the beagle won "Best in Show" in the Wesminister Dog Show. It marks the first time ever that the Beagle has won best in show.

Snoopy, Underdog, Uno........Bailey!!! Bailey just wants to wish you all a happy Beagle Day!!

The Holidays And Our New (Lighted) Friend

2008-01-02T20:47:00.001-05:00

What an exciting holiday season! This was my first holiday since starting Graduate School and I took full advantage of the rest! I think the rest was enjoyed by our whole family! Melissa and Bailey both picked a nice spot on the couch and spent quite a bit of time catching up on some zzzz's.

We also had another exciting Christmas morning with our nephew Josiah! The joys of watching a young child open gifts!

One of the most fun and unique gifts that I got this year was a Dwight Schrute sweatshirt. The extra humor in this gift is that I starred as Dwight in a parody that my Grad school team. A parody on a parody...yes...but it was good stuff! Sorry, I can't post the video (for fear of it becoming an instant internet hit) - but enjoy the snapshot of me as Dwight!

Last but not least, we added another animal to our family this year! Some awesome friends who know us sooo well helped us adopt one more lighted friend! Polar Bear joins Seal and Penguin in the winter wonderland known as our front yard. They did see snow today (albeit flurries) for the first time in their two year life!

Hope your holidays were as fun filled as ours!

Holiday Cheer

2007-12-02T18:01:00.000-05:00

I'd like to share with you two points of holiday cheer enjoyed here at the Beahm household. First, Christmas Crunch. Now...you might say "Christmas Crunch is the same thing as Crunchberries!" And I will respond...yes, it probably is the exact same cereal, but some how psychologically the "Christmas tree" shapes make it so much better!

The second point of Holiday Cheer from the Beahms is our new lighted, movable lawn animals. We have moved into the select group of people who have lawn animals around the holidays. We welcome Penguin and Seal into our family with open arms (although Bailey is not too fond of them). Fellow Apexians be ware...there may be more lawn animals in our future!

I think I can...I think i can....

2007-10-08T22:47:00.000-04:00

What is it about trains that facinates us guys....is it the roaring sound of the engine....the blaring horn.....stories of the old west and train robbers...Ever since I was read the story The Little Engine That Could as a small child I have loved trains!

At age 27, I still find myself enjoying stringing together Thomas the Train track with my nephew and stopping anytime I can to enjoy the passing train. I snapped this pic in downtown apex the other day and couldn't resist sharing my continue love of trains.

I need to take more train rides...

The Alien Cube....

2007-09-25T21:48:00.000-04:00

So the other day I was shocked to see a giant metallic spinning cube atop a building downtown. It was like seeing something out of Space Odyssey 2001 or Stargate. After a few moments of staring in awe...I decided to bolt into action.

First I had to email Jared (who sits right above this menacing cube) and warn him of the alien cube which was so close to him. Next I had to prepare for the invasion by sending pictures from my iphone and emailing everyone I knew! Then I gathered my cups of water and my tinfoil hat hunkered down in my cubicle!

The below pictures have not been doctored.

Art? Really?