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These past few week have been extremely hard. Our family lost a woman that was very special to us. I shared many many memories with her. She was a teacher to me, of crochet :), of faith, of hymnals and of spirit. She was a supporter of mine; in everything. I could confide in her with anything. She was someone I loved very much. I miss her so much it hurts. My heart hurts. At the visitation, funeral and in many cards people said "she was such a sweet lady", and she was, that truly describes her to a tea! I have faith and know with all my heart that she is in a MUCH better place than I am; and she is having a heck of a reunion with her mother, father, husband and all her other 9 brothers and sisters! (Yep, she was one of 10!)

As I was home this past week for all the happenings...... I discovered there is a lot I am thankful for. Every day I pray, I thank the Lord for all he has done for me, but I sometimes don't take the time to really think of things individually. I am thankful for family, friends, time spent with those family & friends, church, worshiping, peaceful places, country roads (where you can back up on a whim and no one thinks a thing about it!), flowers, animals (they lower our blood pressure), Fall, knowing there is a Heaven, 6 year olds that tell you "nah, your not old" even when they really probably think you are ancient, cows, the Paris Tennessee Eiffel Tower :), shoes over a power line, laughter at a funeral, cards out of the blue from someone, birthday cakes, cameras (I would die without mine!), pumpkins that come up after you threw out last years pumpkin, late afternoon sunshine, crocheting, sewing (I am going to try my hand at that soon), swimming pools (with out frogs!), Amish & Mennonite people, the smell of fresh cut hay, babies, the ability to make people laugh, turtles, old lamps redone, Tom's pizza and salad bar, love, a good ole cry (which I have done a lot of lately!), health, good people, a smile from someone when least expecting it, happiness................ I could continue you on for days............but instead I'll just show you a few pictures of the things I am thankful for!

My newest favorite picture that I have taken! The Paris Tennessee Eiffel Tower! :)

B & I

Dad, Mom & I! on my 30th BDay! :)

John & Wendy!

Just on a country road! I love them, because like I said above, you can back up on a whim and no one thinks a thing about it! :)

Beautiful flowers from MeeMaw's funeral!

Just ONE of the many beautiful flowers sent for MeeMaw's funeral.

This is the scenery at cemetery. I believe it is one of the most peaceful places! and as creepy as it may sound, I like cemeteries, they are quiet and I love reading unique names! :)

Murray running up the steps at me! (lowering my blood pressure) :)

Sophe, lowering my blood pressure! :)

and meet Sam. Elle's pupper dupper! :)

Swimming pools! but with out frogs! This weekend when I was able to get in the pool, there was always a frog in there swimming away and Blue leaning over the edge to try to catch him! A circus, but a funny circus! ha!!!

The cows! and sweet babies! in a peaceful field!

Mom's baby pumpkin that came up after throwing last years pumpkin over the fence! :)

Crocheting

Thank you to all who sent flowers, called, sent cards, and thought and prayed for me and my family over the past few weeks! I am thankful for you all!
I love each and every one of you!

An Angel!

MeeMaw
:)
1/25/22 - - 8/24/09

Editing.....

Stay clear....ha! I am editing, editing, editing! Enjoy the changes as they come!

Babies, Buffets and Sno Cones! ;)

This past week after work one night, B & I went by to visit with Amy, Joe & Brooklyn! I decided I wanted an unofficial photo shoot with Brooklyn. Testing out my skills. I am beginning to see I don't have too many skills and that I might have to stop before I even get started, but still it was great fun and I think by the end of it Brook was like "would this crazy lady please STOP?!" (see the last photo!) I did put to test some of my photoshopping skills also, you can see those below! See what you all think!

Picking her nose! Not really, just a cute catch! ha!!

Not one thing in this photo of Brooklyn and Amy is focused, but I still thought it was pretty good!

Holding Daddy's ring!

Brooklyn's toes!

and to compare it to Whit's toes! ;) (A had to help me hold her foot for me!)
Audra showed me the ring and toes picture! We tried it on Whit, but she was alittle older than Brooklyn so she was really pumping those legs around! I did get the one shot above of both rings on the toes of Brooklyn (without assistance!) :)

I just thought those lips were so sweet! I could have eaten then right off! :)

See! She was like "WHAT? ANOTHER FLASH!? SERIOUSLY LADY! LET ME REST!!!" :)

Miss Piano Lady!! She is playing the Piano Man App on side by side IPOD phones/Touch! ha!

My flowers from the farm that we dug up a couple of years ago! I love it when they bloom! I am glad I got this picture because the next day it rained and stormed so hard and long that all the blooms were gone! :(


This weekend, we had a fun filled weekend. I was severely under the weather on Friday and was hoping that it would all pass before our Saturday fun started.....and THANKFULLY it did, so.......!! John came down to be with us for the night! When he got here we drove down to Tunica to eat at Paula Deen's and meet up with our cousins Traci, Reece, Mia & Carly!!! We had SUCH A GOOD TIME!!!! and the food was really really delicious!!! Thank ya'll for coming to meet us!! We enjoyed it so much!!!! We love ya'll!!!

John & I in front of Paul Deen's!!!

Traci & I and the girls (Carly & Mia) after lunch! FULL AS TICKS! ;)

Reece playing with the girls on the escalators!! Traci said....."we are going to get kicked out and NEVER be able to eat Paula Deen's again!" ha!

On the way home, B & I took John to JERRY'S SNO CONES! We have become addicted since Caitlin has introduced us!!! Thanks Cait! Way to start another addiction! ;) and NEXT TIME, I am getting Chocolate Banana flavored SNO Cone!! Because Ya'll there is a smaller list on the WINDOW that isn't up on the big board!! (for those us at work that need to know that!) ha!!!

I've been having fun going through some of my old photos to see what things I have caught! and I will leave you with ......the crocus!
Pretty and purple! :)

:)

One of John's Birthday Happyies! A piggy bank! I am gonna wear him out with the pigs!!! ;)

Brooklyn is SMILING when her Momma makes funny faces and makes funny noises!!! ;)

The girls again, minus a different Aunt!!!

Auntie Ellen!!!!! She gets to meet her!!!

and of course, I had to hold her! :)

Fabulous Vacation, Wedding Fun and Enjoyable Time with Friends!!

Last week B & I traveled to Anaheim and Corona California! We had such a good time & the weather was beautiful!

Our very first day there, after we had flown in, we went to Disneyland! B was so excited!!! :)

Our first full day there we had an 8hour tour to Downtown LA, the OLD LA that is now an awesome Mexican part of the city, The Walk of Stars, Chinese Theater, Kodak Theater, the Hollywood sign, drive bys of Celebrity's homes, the famous Rodeo Drive, The Farmer's Market and Venice Beach! I think our favorite part was Venice Beach! It was beautiful and there were some wild characters out there! All I could do was stare!! ha! But while on the Walk of Stars, I was able to get a picture of 1) the crowd that was around Michael Jackson's star and 2) a picture of MJ's star!!! I mean, even though he and I shared a Birthday, and I did like his music, I was not that big of a fan, but it was history.....we were flying in the day of his funeral.......

In the OLD LA, the Mexican part, there were shops full of colorful things!

THE CROWD & below, THE STAR!

HOTTIE Matt Damon!!!! :)

Rodeo Drive!

Yep, that is a Tricycle with 1) a Harley Davidson Sticker on it and 2) CHAINED to the pole! I laughed so hard!!

Some more crazy stuff we saw at Venice Beach! ha!!

B & I on the beach! Beautiful day! Almost chilly!!

Then the next 2 days was spent at Disneyland's Magic Kingdom and California Adventure parks! We had a blast! It wasn't too crowded and we were able to ride rides multiple times with out too long of a wait! Magic Kingdom is so much smaller than the one in Flordia, but so quaint and FUN! I will definitely be going back!!! and on THURSDAY night I was able to see someone that I think is Famous!!!!! Derek from Dancing with the Stars!! I knew my girls at MUH and my cousin Mary Raye would TRULY appreciate it!!! I was so excited!!! and of course I got his picture! See below!!!

IT IS DEREK!!! In an ice cream shop!!! :)

My favorite parade! All lights! At night! :)

:)

On Friday night we were able to meet up with Sean and his Wife To Be - Katie!! We haven't seen Sean, in like, FOREVER and it was awesome to see him! I was just so glad to meet Katie! She is truly a warm and genuine person! She was so welcoming, I just felt like I had been friends with her forever! Sean caught and AWESOME girl! :) Congrats to Sean & Katie! They are Hawaii right now for their Honeymoon! Lucky ducks!!! ;)

Saturday we hit the parks one more time for our last few fun rides!! :) Then off to see my friend Lynn before the wedding! We haven't seen each other in about 6 years!! She used to work with me when we both worked in West Memphis, we hit it off and became instant friends!! It was just a small world thing that she moved to Corona and that is where Katie & Sean got married!!! B & I went to visit with her, her husband, Mike and their dog, Sal! It flew by too fast but I enjoyed every minute of it! Like I told her "I am coming back, I love visiting out here!" :) Thank you Lynn & Mike for your hospitality and letting us visit with you for at least a little while! I love you and MISS YOU TONS!!!

Lynn & I! :)

After that visit we were off to the wedding!!! What a fun time, and beautiful too! It was at the beautiful home of Katie's Dad & StepMom, Mr. John & Mrs Sue! Sean looked so handsome and Katie was breath taking!!! Katie's son, Jonathan was a HAM on the dance floor & such a sweetie!!! They make one beautiful family!!!! Phil & Heather (one of Brian's old college roommate and his wife) got to come too. They live in Memphis also, and I said it is kind of funny that we had to come across the country to visit with one another! HA! But it was good times as always! Sean & Katie had an artist at their wedding painting the scene, landscape of their wedding day and ceremony the entire time! It was so cool just to walk by every once in a while to see the progress of her painting! It was awesome!!! Thank you guys for inviting us to be a part of you big day!! We love you!!!

Katie's grandmother caught the bouquet! If you know me at all, you know I fell in LOVE WITH HER!!! :)

Heather, Phil, Katie, Sean, B & I!
The painting! What a wonderful way to preserve the day! :)



I am totally embarassed to say how many pictures I took! So, I won't say! but if you would like to see the WHOLE TRIP and the WHOLE WEDDING, go to the Photos Section and check it out! Thanks for listen to me ramble! I really enjoyed myself on this vacation and just want to tell everyone EVERYTHING! ha!
Have a great week!!!
Happy Friday!!!