Happy Birthday, Dana and Dusty!

Sunday, a week ago, was my sister's birthday. We all went out for Chinese after church. This is the family chowing down. After lunch, Dana and I enjoyed a trip to the GAP. My sister is my best friend! We don't spend as much time together as I would like, but we make time as often as possible. Thanks, Dana, for always being there! Love Ya!

THE BIG 30!!!

As for Dusty, his birthday got caught up in the mix of everything. His birthday was the Monday after we got back from Nashville. The kids and I didn't forget about him, though. We got together a couple of gifts and a birthday cake. He worked late that night, so the kids wanted to surprise him. When he got home, we had all the lights out and the kids were hiding under the kitchen table. When he came in, the kids jumped out and screamed, "Surprise!" He was truly surprised. Thank you Dusty for all the hours you put in for this family! You may not realize how much we notice and appreciate all that you do. You have become such a good husband, father and most importantly, Christian these past few years! I'm proud of you! I love you with all of my heart! Happy Birthday, Honey!

Take Me out to the Ballgame!!

First off let me start by saying, "Whew, I'm tired!!" The ball season has kicked off and I mean it is in full swing (no pun intended!). Between the four that are playing, we have practice every night of the week except Wednesday. This past weekend was the Kickoff Tournament for Jake, Cailey, and Kota. However, their tournaments were not in the same places. Cailey and Kota played on Thursday at Sumiton Park. Jake played Thursday at Union Chapel in Jasper. Cailey plays shortstop and made a homerun on her first at bat of the year!! Awesome!! Kota played third base. Her first at bat, she got on base and just laughed. They are planning on moving her to outfield because they want someone out there who can throw. Unfortunately, they lost their first game, but had a wonderful time. Jake played right center and "behind" catcher. They played the best team in the tournament on their first night. He lost, too. Jake was to play on Friday, but of course if you had planned to play on Friday, you could forget about it! What a storm!! His game was rescheduled for Saturday at 9am. Cailey and Kota had their second game at 11am. Let's see if I can shorten the rest of this story. Jake won his first game, so had to stay for a second. Rushed Mom and the girls to their game in Sumiton. Rushed back to Jake's game. They won again!! Rushed to get Mom and the girls from their game(they lost). Rushed back to Jake's third game. He won again! So we are all at Jake's fourth game of the day. The winner plays the championship game and the loser gets third place. Jake played catcher the whole game. First inning, with two outs, a brutus of a boy hit one to the outfield. Jake throws his helmet off waiting....the outfielder throws to second, second relays to home, Jake makes the catch! He's standing his ground as the boy has already rounded third base and WHAM!! The boy lays Jake out on his back. Jake sticks his arm up with the ball in hand and the umpire yells, "OUT!!" What a play!! I was sure he was going to be hurt but he ran to the dugout with everyone cheering!! They were winning the whole game but it came down to the bottom of the last inning. They were exhausted and just couldn't close the deal. What an effort, FOUR straight games! We left the ballpark around 5pm. Needless to say, we were all exhausted. It is worth it, though. I love to watch my children in anything they do! The twins and Jake have another game on Saturday and Taylor kicks her season off on Saturday, too. Makes for another busy weekend!!

Aquarium Restaurant and Opryland Hotel

First of all, let me start off by apologizing for being so sparatic in my blogs. Any of you that know me, know that I'm not a very busy person so I have no excuse(yeah, right!!). As I have already mentioned, we went to Nashville for the convention. We had a blast! Even though it makes for a very busy weekend, we still use it as a mini-vaction for the family. We treated ourselves this time by going to the Aquarium Restaurant. Loved the food, however, it was pretty expensive. The kids enjoyed the atmosphere. I think the adults did, too. Jace was a little unsure if we got him to close to the tank. He wanted to enjoy from a distance. We also enjoyed going to the mall and looking around. Dusty paid for me to get a massage at one of those kiosks. I felt a little awkward with people walking by, but let me tell you, it was awesome! I have never had a professional massage before. Sad, isn't it! Thank you Dusty for thinking of me and knowing what I need.

As everyone has mentioned in their blogs, we lucked out this year and got balcony rooms at the hotel. It was so nice to go out there and people watch or just listen to the waterfall. All in all, we had a wonderful trip and look forward to next year!