Forever Young

Monday, June 29, 2009

Visit with the Webbs

Last week the SBC was held here in Louisville, Ky. Our friends, the Webbs, came to town for the convention, and we got the pleasure of keeping their 3 youngest children! Here are some pictures from their time together.
Bekah and Anna Laura colored shaving cream and then finger painted with it!


Isaac and Brandon enjoyed jumping on the trampoline!
Swinging is always a fun thing for the kids.
These 5 kids are ready to get wet!

We somehow managed to get this poor broken down pool to last one day before going out with the trash. The sides did not hold air very well, so I had to keep pumping it up all day long.

Sprinkler fun!


They are "painting" the fence!
Our visit with our friends was over all too soon and they left us. The Webbs lived right across the hall from us when we lived in our apartment in Louisville, and now they live in North Carolina. We are always thankful when we get to spend time with them. We are already looking forward to the next visit....maybe next summer.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Fun with Friends!

Our friends, the Holcombes, came up from TN to spend a week with us and we all had a blast! We spent one day at the Louisville Zoo. I think the kids posed on every animal statue in the zoo! (Just in case you are wondering, there is a water park in the zoo which the kids enjoyed. That is the reason my kids are wearing towels in all the pictures. They wanted to wet the towels and keep them around their necks to keep themselves cool.)






Me and Michelle

We all had a good time feeding the lorikeets at the zoo!





We spent one day at the seminary pool and another day we stayed home and the kids played the Wii and enjoyed the back yard and we went out for ice cream. We also made a stop at the candy factory while they were here. Michelle and I enjoyed playing games together in the evenings and just catching up. We are blessed to have such great friends!
One last picture before they left of everybody on the trampoline plus Liberty our neighbor! Fun times!!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Happy Father's Day!

Yesterday we enjoyed a good Father's Day celebration. Actually we celebrated Saturday and Sunday! On Saturday, Todd wanted to go to the zoo. He hadn't been since he got his nice camera, so he had been itching to get some animal shots. (You can check out his Flicker site to see how he did.) After the zoo we enjoyed some BBQ at a BBQ competition made by the famous BBQologist (AKA Pastor Roger). Then we stopped for some yummy dessert at the Homeade Pie and Ice Cream Kitchen. Sunday morning we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and Todd got a couple of gifts. The kids got him this photography book:

And I got him a new 50 mm lens for his camera. (Which will necessitate another trip to the zoo!!)
After church he chose to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings for some boneless Honey BBQ and Asian Zing!
We spent the afternoon at home awaiting guests who were arriving for the SBC convention in Louisville. We met up with them Sunday evening around 7:3o or so and I snapped this Father's Day picture while we were waiting for them to arrive:

Thanks for being a great dad, Todd!

Anniversary Golf

Here are a couple of pictures from our anniversary golfing! You can tell that Todd looks like he knows what he's doing and I don't!


Thursday, June 18, 2009

Anniversary!

Yesterday, Todd and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary! Here are a couple of pictures from that special day 14 years ago....


When Todd got home from work last night, we went out to celebrate. The kids stayed next door with the neighbors and we went out to eat for dinner at McAlisters (thanks to my mom and dad for the gift card). We tried their peanut butter cookies, which were good, but they did not beat Fuddruckers for the best peanut butter cookie ever. Then we went to the mall and did some shopping, and then we went to a driving range where Todd attempted to teach me how to hit a golf ball. I ended up with a big knot on my leg where I whacked myself with a golf ball. Todd has his work cut out for him if he wants me to ever play a game of golf with him!! Todd and I had a great evening together celebrating our 14 years of marriage! We are hoping to maybe take an overnight trip together sometime later in the summer when he finishes his summer term at school.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Brandon's 9th Birthday!

Yesterday my boy turned 9 years old! Todd woke him up around 7 am so he could see him before he left for work. He awoke to find streamers and balloons!
And he found some gifts too!

He got cinnamon rolls for breakfast! (Pancakes are still his favorite, but we saved those for the next day when he had some friends eating with him that had spent the night.)

Brandon received a Ben 10 Wii game for his birthday. He spent a lot of the day playing his new game. We also drove to Louisville and had lunch with Todd. Brandon chose to go to the Long John Silvers/A&W because he wanted fish and root beer. Strange choice since we've probably only eaten there about 5 times in his whole life. But, that's what we did! Then in the evening we had a birthday party at our house.

Here is his Ben 10 cake! We have figured out the best combination to make cakes at our house....I bake it, Sonja makes the frosting, I frost the cake, and Todd decorates the cake.
Bekah is ready for the party!
The guests arrive...
Brandon wanted pizza for supper.

After dinner we played some party games. This was one where you blow up a balloon but don't tie it. Then everyone lets them go and aims for a picture of Ben 10. Whoever's balloon is closest to the target wins that round (and a piece of candy).

I like Bekah's face in this one!
Then we played the game where you tie a balloon to your ankle. You try to pop everyone else's balloon without getting yours popped.
We ended up sending in Mr. Todd to stomp some balloons!
I like Brandon's face in this one!
We played one other game where you have a partner and have 5 minutes to build the tallest tower out of a set number of marshmallows and toothpicks. Then Brandon got to open his gifts.
And one final picture of everybody!
Fun times!

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Tennessee

We went to Maryville, TN the weekend after Easter to visit Todd's parents. Our friends, Justin and Kara and Kyla went with us because Kara had a photography conference in Townsend, TN that weekend. When we arrived on Friday evening, Grandmom had Easter baskets for the kids, including one for Kyla!



On Saturday morning, Kara and I drove into Cades Cove and hiked to Abram's Falls. It was great to see so many deer and to see the beautiful falls and to get exercise all while hanging out with a great friend!







Later that evening, we went back through Cades Cove (minus the hiking) with the whole gang. It is always such a beatiful place to visit. We saw lots more deer and wild turkey. Todd took lots of pictures that evening, so I'll try to post some more of those....