Perserverance has a face.....

And here it is. This is Mo and one of my hero's. I thank her mom for letting me be part of their birthday celebration. It was truly an honor to be part of such a special day.

beautiful-

one of my favorites from the lucky 7-7-7 wedding date. Stay tuned for more in the upcoming days :)

Camping

Its for the birds. Unless you camp with me. My campsite comes fully equipped with a port-a-potty/shower room. The shower is 5 gallon solar heated bag that heats to 105 degrees in 3 hours (we have 2 of them)It is AWESOME! Of course the one thing that i forgot was to put sunblock on myself. I burned. BAD. I have blisters on my nose. It sucks! Live and learn right. At least I remembered to put it on the kids. Heres a few from the trip :)

Love is in the air :)

My sweet Nate...

Doesnt he have lovely eyes :) I love the way they sparkle :)

BUZZ BUZZ

CONGRATS CLASS OF 2007!

Dont forget the sunscreen.

My Grandmother's Legacy

My Grandmother, who we grew up affectionately calling "Mammaw" was my lifeline. She was the thread that held our family together. When she died, everyone drifted away. No one talks to each other anymore. They all have their own lives busy with babies, careers and vacations.
I've wondered what my Mammaws legacy will be and I have decided that it is this pie. I am the only one she gave her recipe to before she passed on. I am the only living being who knows the secret ingredients. This pie was the feature guest at our Thanksgiving dinners every year for as long as I can remember. It's a creamcheese blueberry pie lovingly dolloped on top of a buttery graham cracker crust. Are you drooling yet? It is sweet, yet tangy and fills the air with the aroma of almond extract. My favorite smell in the whole wide world.
Not only is this pie delicious, it brings families together. No matter how angry you are at your little cousin for sitting on your hand and breaking your finger, or how much you want to run away from your cousin Jeremy because he took the cushion inside a couch and stuck it into his nose so far it got infected and his breath makes you want to pass out, this pie will bring your closer.
The oooo's and ahhh's will be to overwhelming to stay mad or want to run away. For the 30 seconds it takes to woof down your slice, your in heaven, all is right with the world and you love everyone in it.
I tell ya, if all the world leaders got together over a piece of my Mammaws pie, peace and love would be the only thing they think about.

And that, is my Mammaws Legacy.

Little Alfalfa

Rum Cake--okay heres the rum, wheres the cake?

Hope you all had a wonderfully,chocolatey,sughar-high filled Easter. I know I did but more about that later.
The pic above is my hubbys cousin's little girl. She is gorgeous! I wish I could photograph her 24-7. I love my boys and would never trade them for anything but sometimes, is nice to photograph something wearing frilly lacey things :)
I had the most wonderful rum cake known to man. My hubbys wonderful grandmother decided to make a cake extra special for us grownups at the Easter Celebration. Most People bake the rum in the cake. Not Granny. She poured a whole bottle on the cake and let it soak overnight lolol.
Lets just say, it made Easter my favorite holiday :p

Wilbur

The Sweetest Thing

My 4 year old Colby comes over for a hug sniffs my shoulder.
Colby:Why do Mom's smell so good?
Me smiling bright: Do I?
Colby continues to sniff my shoulder.
Nate (my 7 year old): Because Mom is so sweet Colby.
Colby: ooohhhhh I know'd dat.
Yep, thats the good stuff.

Home

I love our home. Not just the place we live but the entire town. Its small. Everyone knows everyone. It smells of manure. Things happen in small towns that you would never hear of happening in a city. Heres an example.
Our mail lady had to rescue our neighbors bull from a fight it got into with a lawn chair. The poor thing had this white plastic lawn chair stuck on its horns. He had escaped and was being followed down the road by 3 goats. I like to think of them as his own personal entourage. I guess he didnt like the way this chair was staring at him and we can only assume that he tried to gore it. I took a picture. I'll have to check and see if I can find it. It was definitely a classic.
Our mail lady will forever be known as the bull whisperer. I like her when shes not trying to steal my dog. But thats another story.
Anyhow, here are a few pictures of our day. One showing how terribly busy our 5pm Monday rush hour traffic is in town. The others are of my guy at his baseball game. The black and white shows his nerves before he was put on third base and the other shows the mountains that surround us in the background. Our children don't know how lucky they are to grow up in such a wonderful place. I know that when I was growing up here, the thought of being lucky to be here never crossed my mind lol. It was usually, where is the fasted road I can take to get me outta here lolol. Funny how time changes that.

Grateful

I am grateful for my family.
I am grateful for patience.
I am grateful for the love that I am able to give, as well as recieve.
I am grateful for the start of each new day.
I am grateful for modern medicine.
I am grateful for being able to think, learn and worship without worry of being persecuted.
I am grateful to have the ability to see things differently than most people.
I am grateful for the ability to forgive.
I am grateful that I do not have to worry about where my children's next meal will come from.
I am grateful for my life, and each breath I take.

Boys Pee Anywhere.

Well I'm starting my week in pictures. As some of you know, I have tried the 365 blog and failed horribly. A week of pictures is more doable for me. I hope, fingers crossed, toes crossed and I threw in a little eye crossing action for some umph. I wish we werent so boring. Although, we do have some baseball games this week that I am veryyyyyyyyyy excited about So, heres a little pee action from my 4 year old, a crooked smile from our beagle Miss Dixie, and a bit of baseball practice from our little pitcher :)

i love kiddie piggies..

if only they were barefoot piggies..sigh, well ya work with what ya got i suppose ;)

MISSING FOOTBALL

Thats my guy peering around the corner to make sure Mom's watching him at his Allstar game last year. I cant wait for sports to start back up. We just started Baseball, so i should be showing that but football is where my heart is. <3sigh<3

PECKER

Nicole Van Actions-not just for people :)