Surprises!

This has been the week of surprises and it has been so very exciting. Wayne's sister, Melissa and her family that lives in Colorado came in this week for a surprise visit. We knew that they were coming but none of the other family did and what a surprise. I was afraid my mother-in-law would have a heart attack because she got so excited. Wayne's other sister, Rosanna has just moved back into the area so the entire family was able to be together and that hasn't happened for 3 years. The special draw for the week was that our niece Marva was graduating from high school and what a happy occasion that was.

Aaron, Melissa, Christopher & Callie Johnson and Caleb. (We so enjoyed having them this week).

This is a pictures of Wayne's nieces. Sitting left to right is Marva, Kristen, Keianna, Hannah and standing is Callie & Andrea.

The entire Gresham family.

Larry & Juanita with their four children.

Wayne' s sister Melissa and her family.

Marva our niece graduating from high school, the occasion that drew all the family together.

Marva and her boyfriend Jonathan.

Wayne's sister Rosanna and her family.

Bike Pictures

This is the group of fellows that all rode the Tail of the Dragon together. They made wonderful memories and enjoyed the Christian fellowship.

The Tail of the Dragon

Unusual title! I'm sure some of you out there have heard of the Tail of the Dragon, it is nothing but 11 miles of curvy mountainous blacktop in beautiful TN. This is the trip that my husband along with my brother, Nathan and 6 others left for on Friday morning.

This trip has been talked about, researched out, planned and dreamed about for months. I've watched a portion of the video clips of the ride and had to turn away because my stomach started getting queasy, I've seen the statistics that are posted on the website of all the deaths that take place there and my insides turned to jelly. I've been a nervous Nellie about this ride, finally I had to tell everyone not to talk about it in front of me and I didn't want to discuss the ride. Great coping skills????

The journey to TN turned out to be about 12 hours (should have been 6) due to my brother having difficulties with his bike. Those guys babied and worked on Nathan's bike but they stood by him refusing to leave him behind. The motto was if Nathan had to stay behind they all were. Pretty admirable I thought. When they arrived to TN, they checked into their campsite and what a chilly night it was but they survived.

Saturday morning they met up with 7 other guys the leader being my friend LaDonna's husband, Joe. Joe has proved to be a great resource for the Tail of the Dragon and the local area, he had already ridden the Dragon a few times. The group of 15 guys met for breakfast and they hit the Tail of the Dragon and ALL survived without incident. I had to say a prayer of thanksgiving because I was worried about the trip. The guys have all had a great time of fellowship and fun. LaDonna has taken alot of pictures I'm told so stay posted for photos. LaDonna and her friend hosted a cookout for all the guys on Saturday after the ride. Thanks LaDonna and your friend for all your kindness.

Father's Day Present

I know we just got over Mother's Day but I had to blog about my newest project that I'm working on. Wayne's dad is retiring at the end of this month from his full time job, and he retired from the fire department last month. The fire department had a big dinner and party in his honor. Only one of his children were able to be there that evening so I decided to put together a scrapbook celebrating his years on the fire department. I have lots of photos from the evening and my mother-in-law has a bookshelf full of fire department mementos. I'm taking those photos and memorabilia and then photos of Larry (my father-in-law) with his children and grandchildren and compiling the album. I'm so excited about the project. I went to Hobby Lobby and found the Fire Fighter scrapbook album (black leather with the red and gold fire emblem), used a 40% coupon that they had in the newspaper and saved some money. I contacted Wayne's sisters that live in Colorado and Georgia to mail me some of their photos so the project is now over 50% complete. The plan is to present it to my father-in-law on Father's Day, he doesn't know that I'm working on it. I stayed up until about 2am this morning working on pages and I'm ready to do some more.

Happy Mother's Day

I just wanted to wish my mom a Happy Mother's Day. I've had the wonderful privilege of spending part of the day with her but on the actual day I will not be with her, so I thought I'd surprise her and leave her a note. I love you mom and you are one of my dearest friends.

Today we were able to celebrate Savannah's 3rd birthday. We went to the park and celebrated with some yummy picnic food that my sister-in-law Telesa had prepared. This picture was Savannah playing with Wayne's binoculars, she just looked so cute.

My brother Nathan acting silly, but then what is new?????

The rest of the above pictures were all taken today at the park where we celebrated Savannah's birthday party. Just thought you might enjoy seeing them.