Boone - 2011

Brad grew up having real Christmas trees.  

I grew up with a fake tree.  

When we got married I was super excited to start a tradition for us to get a real tree each year.  And that's just what we've done.  And all but one year we've gone to a local Christmas tree farm to cut a tree down.  But last year was different - we started coming to Boone.  You can read about it here. 

Well, we did the exact same thing again this year.  Except we took 2 days off work and spent a long weekend in Boone this time.  It was wonderful.  

This year it didn't snow...so that was a huge bummer (and it drizzled the day we cut down our tree)....but being that there wasn't snow all over the ground we got to do some hiking.  We hiked to Linville Falls, 

went to Grandfather Mountain (and Brad even walked the bridge), 

bought David a sled so he could sled up near Beech Mountain, 

drove the Blue Ridge for a while, 

went shopping in downtown Boon, ate at several really great places, and finally cut down our tree.

We went back to Circle C Christmas tree farm.  It's a lovely little farm and again we found the perfect tree.  Yes, I suppose, you can say I'm a tree snob.  Yes, you can buy these trees in Birmingham.  But....no, you can't cut them down.  

After walking through what seemed like a thousand trees - we finally found the perfect one!  It's almost 9 feet tall - and our ceilings are 9 feet tall.  Perfect, right?

We've decided to try and make this a yearly tradition if our vacation schedule and pocketbook will allow - as this is one of our favorite memories from this Christmas and last.  In fact, when talking about last Christmas the first thing David talked about was our Christmas tree trip (even before our trip to Disney). 

Making memories with my two favorite people is my favorite thing to do.   

School project

A month or two ago David had to put together a timeline for school.

These are the pictures he picked.

Love it!

Homecoming Game

Tonight was our homecoming game for the K/1 Chelsea Hornets.

(Coach Jimmy giving Walker and David a pep talk before the game)

Two days ago a sweet cheerleader, who David went to Kindercare with, showed up at the house to decorate the front door and mailbox for him. She also had a nice little gift to give him. Her mom told me that she picked David because she knew him. :)

Before the game, each player gave a cheerleader a rose and then walked off the field with them.

(Please notice that Savannah is looking right at David but he's too shy to look directly in her eyes so he was looking past her).

(How adorable is this?)

Unfortunately, we played Hoover (the only undefeated team in our league). Our boys hung in there and played hard. The first first down came in the 4th quarter along with the first and only touchdown of the game (scored by David!).

We lost, but it was still fun. Our boys play Hoover again in the playoffs so they will be practicing hard the next couple of weeks. I am so glad that our cheerleaders made the game even more special for these players.

These boys

Addie

This sweet angel, Addie, just turned two years old.

Her mama, Lexie, and I used to work together while she was in college. We became close friends and she was there for me for a lot of big things that happened in my life: when we got our foster kids, when they went home almost 2 years later, when Brad had his accident, when I (finally) got pregnant, when I had David and everything in between.

She has moved on and is now a kindergarten teacher and loves her job. We don't see each other that often, but I am still so thankful for her friendship back then (I couldn't have made it without her) - and our friendship now.

She asked me to take pictures at Addie's second birthday a few weekends ago. It was fun. It was even better that I know several of her friends and some of her family. As always, Lexie did a great job on the party. Oh, and she is one hot mama too.

Seven

David...

...you love your Sammy-dog and Radar and Kitty.
...you always want Radar to sleep with his head on one of your pillows in your bed.
...you are a little super star and the quarterback of the Chelsea K/1 Hornets!
...your best buddies are in "The Group".
...your favorite restaurant is Pablos.
...you love all of my girlfriends and have decided you want to marry each of them at different points in your little life so far.
...you love to go camping.
...you made the 6 year old All Star team this year and played first base.
...your favorite toy is any kind of gun, especially Nerf guns.
...you got your first love note this year and you tell me your girlfriend is a girl who cheers for your football team, named Taylor Wise. She is also in your first grade class.
...you are really good at riding your bike and always wear your helmet, even though you don't want to.
...you are quite the band wagon fan and don't stick with one team from year to year (except Samford and the Gators). I wonder who you will cheer for this year? Auburn or Alabama.
...you love green monster smoothies.
...you like playing football and baseball, but your favorite sport is basketball.
...you have a very sensitive heart and have a lot of compassion for people and animals.
...you know more about football than I ever have and love to watch it on TV.
...you got your first cavity this year.
...you wear size 3 shoes.
...you still don't watch much TV, but you like to watch Americas Funniest Home Videos with me...we both like to watch people fall, and then laugh at them. A lot.
...you love to play board games, especially The Game of Life (thanks, Cara).
...you are very healthy and have only been sick three times in your entire life.
...you are a math whiz and love to read.
...you have Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Watts for first grade and they are awesome.
...you have 34 classmates in your first grade class.
...you like to help me bake.
...you have started rolling your eyes and sighing at us when we ask you to do something that you don't want to do.
...you like me to snuggle-bug you at night.
...you love to eat my crepes for breakfast and that makes me so happy.
...you love to play in the sprinkler and help us wash the trucks.
...you remind me to me recycle.
...your favorite songs are "All I do is Win" and "Firework".
...you like the dance around the house in your boxers.
...you have developed a little attitude this year and show your hiney when you get mad.
...you took good care of me when I had a couple surgeries this year.
...you always leave your socks all over the house.
...one of your favorite activities is jumping on our trampoline.
...you go to the Y after school and the counselors adore.
...you are too old for the pumpkin patch and don't want to go this year. :(
...you like to build things with Legos.
...your favorite fruit is strawberries.
...your favorite teams are the Celtics, the Heat and the Gators. Your favorite pro players are Lebron James, Tim Tebow, and Cam Newton.
...you like to dive into our bed from the bed post.
...you get annoyed with me taking pictures of you, but I can normally bribe you.
...you like anything remote control.
...you are funny and make me laugh all the time.
...when I take pictures with my iphone you always ask if I'm going to put it on facebook.
...you have recently become independent more than ever before. This makes me sad and happy all at the same time.
...you tell us you want to go to Samford University.
...you like for me to rub your back and you always return the favor.
...I embarrass you when you are around your friends, but you still like to snuggle with me.
...you are my heart.

I love this boy.

This boy

He is tough.

He is tender.

He is amazing.

He is loving.

He is compassionate.

He is a great friend.

He loves to read.

He is a football player.

One Cool Cat

Just kidding

I know I'm wishy-washy. Apparently very much so. I went to wordpress and like a lot of features of it, but also hated my template. I couldn't get past how lame and boring it was. So I (think) I am back to blogger.

So let's try this again, shall we?

Thanks for sticking with me.

And since I haven't posted HERE in too long, here is a sweet picture of my boy.

And this one is definitely one my favorites from the season so far...David and all of his best buddies.

Oh and one other little Wordpress problem is I can't remember my log in. My computer logged me out and I didn't write my password down either. DOH!

cousins

Last weekend we met Brad's brother and his family right outside of Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. We camped at Jellystone in Cave City. A fun time was had by all.

We went to Mammoth Cave. We played games in the lodge. We swam in the pool and went down the massive water slide a bunch. And we canoed down a river 8 miles. I have no pictures of the canoe trip - but just imagine us floating down a river (they said it was a Class 1 river which means no rapids and it moves at 0 miles an hour)....it took us about 3.5 hours and was sooo slow. But it was a lot of fun. It was first canoe trip as an adult. We'll definitely be doing that again.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the weekend of David and two of his cousins, Savannah and Olivia. David and Olivia are only 11 months apart and they adore each other. I have a picture of David kissing Olivia on the cheek, but since they are cousins I guess that's not okay, so that picture won't get posted. :)

A First and a Second

This sweet thing had her second birthday a few weeks ago. Emily (her mom) did an Art Party and it was a lot of fun for the kids.

Emily helped Ava finish her painting.

I gave her a dress for her birthday that I made. It was my first attempt at making a dress (or any clothing for that matter). I'm pretty proud of myself....I did the whole thing myself (except for the button holes which I had a friend do for me since I'm lame and can't figure out how to make my machine make a button hole). I asked Emily not to pay any attention to the construction as the underneath of the dress was a mess....but she understood. I'll have to work on that on my next one. :)

I have to say I'm proud of myself!

Area Champions!

Last weekend our Chelsea 6U All Stars played in Wilsonville. AND won that Area Championship! They played 6 games in 4 days. The team that we had to play (twice) to win the championship had already beat us 3 times. But the boys dug deep and played hard and came out on top. I thought Brad was going to have a heart attack on the field!!

It was a great weekend!

David and his best friend, Ethan:

Love this:

Double Play David

This weekend is the Chelsea 6U invitation in Vincent, AL. We won our game last night and won both games today. This means we play tomorrow at 5:30 and if we win that game we play in the Championship at 7:00!

Our boys are doing SO great.

David got a double play today - and for this he earned the game ball!!!

This is the whole team. We have one good looking group of boys!!!!

Giants Party

The 5/6 Chelsea Giants are undefeated for the second half of the season! Woo-hoo!

We had the team party at our house on Saturday after our game and we had a fabulous time. The weather, company, and food was all great.

And here is one of my favorite pictures from the day:

I'm headed to the hospital for a pretty big (in my opinion) surgery, but I'll be back in a few days to get more pictures posted from our party.

Easter 2011

Some sweet friends of ours (The Curran's) invited us to spend Easter Sunday at the Birmingham Zoo with their family.

We had a great time.

It was definitely one of my favorite Easters. Our friends made us feel like family. In fact, David wants to be part of THEIR family (he said so many times)...which doesn't surprise me at all. I kinda want to be part of their family also.

The day was all about these two: John Taylor and David.

We walked the zoo, listened to an Elephant talk by a zookeeper (lame) at the new Elephant Exhibit (cool), went to a show and saw cute animals, watched the boys run and play, Brad got shocked by 220 volts intended for elephants (yep, for real), Brad survived said 220 volt shock, David and John Taylor rode a camel, I took 100 pictures, we had a picnic and wrapped up the day with an Easter egg hunt for the kids.

Thankful for friends who invited us to be part of their family for a day.

CHAMPIONS!!!

I may not have mentioned this before, but Brad is head coaching David's baseball team - the 5 and 6 year old Chelsea Giants.

We have quite a few kids who have never played baseball before and some who have played for a couple of years. We've got a pretty good mix of capabilities. I've come to learn the following over the past 5 weeks:

We have the BEST kids in the league.

We have the BEST parents in the league, they seriously are all so great.

We have the BEST coaches in the league (especially the head coach...no - I'm not biased).

We have some of the funniest kids, too!

I've had fun watching these kids learn to hit the ball, field the ball and throw the ball. They've improved so much since mid March.

Chelsea breaks the baseball season into two halves. The first season ended this week and due to our record (6-2) we made it to the playoffs. We played Monday night and beat the #3 team. In this game David caught a pop fly and had an unassisted triple play. Go big D!

Then last night we played the #4 team (who beat the #1 team) and we beat them. So....that makes us:

FIRST HALF CHAMPIONS!

Now we have one more half to play. But we have sealed in a spot in the very last game of the season (between the two half champs). Can't wait!

GO GIANTS!

Quack Quack (a.k.a. Donald - you know the Duck)

This guy....

....is named Quack Quack.


He lives in a pond near our good friend's home. Whenever the Vickers' come home Quack Quack follows their car to their house so that he can visit with them.

He's the coolest duck ever.


He even plays football.

For real.


I want a duck.


So....when we move to the country - I've decided we'll have two chickens, a goat, AND a duck. That's not too much to ask for now, is it?


Who you looking at?

UPDATE: Sadly, Quack Quack met his maker about two weeks after I posted this. He was crossing Highway 41 and was hit by a car. Thankfully someone in the neighborhood picked him up and buried him before all of the neighborhood kids came home to see him.

My latest photography job

So it wasn't a paid job....But I had a lot of fun....It was for a great cause....In memory of an employee at Vulcan....His son was 3 and his dugher was 1 when he passed away....His best friends drove down from Nashville for the tournament....His brother was planning to come from Japan (but stayed since his military duties came first)...I really can't stand golf....And it poured like crazy for about 20 minutes....And I got soaked, but kept my camera dry....But I have an appreciation for golf now....these folks had a blast....And $6,500 was raised for the two charties that are important to Steven's wife....Here's the link to my picures on facebook if you want to take a look: Steven Judd Memorial Golf Tournament

Baby A - Part III

A few more of sweet Baby A.

Cookie fun

This weekend my friend, Allison, came over and we practiced making sugar cookies.

I pre-made the dough so all we had to do was bake and then decorate them.

Allison was really good considering this was her first time decorating them - she has a really steady hand.

We tried adding polka dots to the wet icing and it kinda made it look like they were painted on.

I don't know why I didn't take any final pictures. Doh! And you can see the filling was too runny at first, so the pink cookies looked terrible. Lesson learned.

I am making some cookies for a wedding party this weekend...so I'll post pictures of those when I'm done.