Happy 2nd Birthday Lily!!!

I believe I am justified in saying that Lily's second birthday party was a blast (pun intended as it was held on July 4th). Gran and Jonathan came up from Knoxville; while Nana, Papa, Uncle Chipper, Aunt Ashley and Cousin Jackson (in utero) came down from northern Virginia. Anna, Sam and Mary Hudson crossed over the mountain from Ashville. We were also glad to have local guests, including Uncle Kevin and Aunt Carrie, Beth and Tim, and Emily's resident buddy Elizabeth with her husband and son, Brent and Luke. If I missed somebody, I'm really sorry....

Anyway, it was an exciting weekend, though not always in a good way. Thursday night Dad and I helped Chip rearrange the bones in his "Great Toe," at least the doctor folks thought it was an "interesting case." The party also featured a home-made Elmo cake....that's right, Emily and I made the cake ourselves! I did most of it, while allowing Emily to interject some (very useful) help when she just couldn't help herself any longer. The grownups played a little ladder golf and cornhole in the backyard, while the kids generally preferred the swimming pool, sand box and slip-n-slide (kids being Lily, Mary Hudson, Luke, and me).

Lily got some really great gifts, for which we are very thankful and are currently working on the thank you notes. And as will happen at any good family gathering, the food was delicious and plentiful. We've spent most of this week having battles within ourselves between our desire not to waste any food, and our desire to not require new (larger) pants.

So thanks to all who came and sent cards, Lily, Emily and I had a really great time and hope you did as well!

A Long Distance Visit

We were so excited to have my Aunt Cheryl and friend Margaret swing by to visit us while they were 'conferencing' in Knoxville. We were so glad they added us onto their itinerary, living in Iowa our paths don't cross too often. It was wonderful catching up with them, even though their time here was so short!

Work Shoppe

A couple of pictures of my new work space.....its glow-ree-ous!!!






And after spending a couple of weeks building the work space, once it was finished I was able to use it to build something else.....the first thing ever built in my work space is.....

a Ladder Golf Set!!! Dad....I've got the yellow bolos reserved just for you!

Pictures for Papa

I sure would like to know who has been mentioning "shopping" around Lily....



And speaking of, a special message from Lily:

n heurjkdjkdfkfmsr,rsll .lllllllllllllllllk

Stepped on a pop top...

For those who thought that my head was always stuck in Margaritaville....it appears as though my feet are there now too!

Fun with Play-dough, and hammers

During a mommy-Lily day, I decided I would attempt to make homemade play-dough...came out a little soupy, but Lily didn't seem to mind.





Also, after working with a team at church who are renovating a house, Dave got inspired and built this in the garage....soon to store the Jeep hardtop...nice job!!

Chairwoman of the Board

Birthday fun

I had a fabulous birthday celebrated over the last few days. Thank you to everyone who was a part of it! Below are pics from our impromptu trip to the Knoxville Zoo today. Lily was a huge fan of the bronze turtle and the billy goats (and cow, that's the big black thing a couple of pics down). All received pets, hugs AND kisses (seriously we had to restrain her from the goats, it was too funny!).
We were lucky to have Aunt Lynn close enough to us that she, mom and Jonathan came up for dinner and some quick Lily time. We, of course, had to round up the rest of the troops and make it a lovely dinner event! It was so wonderful having everyone together and I appreciated being sung 'Happy Birthday', even if Lily thought it was to her!! The bottom pic is from Memorial Day when the Harrelson's swung by for a quick visit. Poor Lily was SO under the weather that day...but she (and we) had fun regardless!

Fence Week 2009

So, after building a fence at Taylor's Ridge, we decided to give it another go here in our new house. The one caveat, it involves over 500 feet of fence! Fortunately, Dad and Jonathan were feeling most gracious and offered their assistance. Thanks to their help, we were able to finish the fence in a week....but that should not detract from the significance of this endeavor. 1 antiquated auger, 42 bags of concrete, 65 posts, and 1,078 pickets later the fence looked great! So once again, thanks to Dad and Jonathan for their help, and to Mom for all the cooking, cleaning and babysitting she did while we were out digging holes in the backyard.

Pics from our quick furniture buying trip to Knoxville....


Lily enjoying some quality reading...