deer hunt

This weekend was very low key and relaxing which is exactly what we needed.

Friday we had dinner with the Puryears. For dessert we had...

an ice cream cone from Chick-Fil-A for Travis, TCBY for Julie and I, and then Baskin Robbins for Charles. Yep. We made three different stops for dessert.

Saturday we enjoyed laying on the couch watching football.

Julie was cooking Chili for dinner and she knows I am always beggin' for some it. Trav isn't a fan of beans so I never make it. I get so excited when she mentions cooking it!

After dinner and football, we decided to go on a deer hunt.

We went to Meeman-Shelby Forest and looked for deer. We saw three. Success!

Julie had never gone looking for deer before, she was so excited and she actually spotted the first one we saw.

The boys on the look-out...

Sunday, after a great service at Fellowship this morning, we had lunch at the Selecmans. We are really enjoying hanging out with their sweet little family.

We hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed this beautiful weather. I went walking with the girls tonight and I actually wore a light jacket...fall, is that finally you?

always laughing

We celebrated Trav's birthday with our friends tonight on short notice. We had a great time. For some reason when we all get together the inner child in each of us comes out. It's food for the soul hanging out with these people...

We had dinner at the Memphis Pizza Cafe which is yummy!!

So hard to get a serious picture of these boys.

Love them.

Happy Birthday Cheesecake. Tonight was my first attempt at making a cheesecake, ever!

Happy Birthday Travis!!

We are already planning for Pa's 30th birthday trip next year. We are going all out! Cannot wait...

last year in his twenties

Today is Travis' 29th birthday!! Lookin' good to be so old. ha

We all give him a hard time about his age. Out of all of our friends, he is the oldest (and by several years...) We like to call him, Pa.

We celebrated last night with the Mattmanns and the Puryears. Trav chose our dinner. We had lasagna, salad, and bread for dinner. And for dessert I baked him a yellow cake with cream cheese icing and Julie brought over some ice cream.

Today we said "see you soon" to the Mattmanns, went to church, lunch at Swanky's and then came home for a little R&R.

We plan to celebrate again one night this week with our friends. We love us some birthdays around here.

Happy Birthday Love.

Hope your day has been great.

I am so proud to call you Mine.

I love my family so much it is crazy!

mattmanns in memphis

I loved this weekend. I am always excited when Josie comes to town.

Sum, Josie, and Mike came to Memphis this weekend.

Friday night we were all pretty tired and decided to call in Central and stay in.

Josie loves her Uncle Travis. She is amazed by his beard. She actually said his name several times this weekend. =)

Josie and the boys.

I brought in a plate full of cookies and she was the first to reach for some.

Bath time with Aunt Kayla.

Saturday morning, the boys went golfing and the girls played.

We woke up early and after breakfast walked to the playground at the end of our street.

Loving the swings.

If I had to guess, I would say that we slid down the slide about 10 times. My bottom was soaking wet from the dew on the slide. Oh, the things I do for this little girl.

I think this picture is cute. It is all three of our shadows.

Sharing a snack with Uncle Travis.

One of our favorite things to do together...

be silly.

Sum and Josie B.

We celebrated Travis' birthday with the Mattmanns and Puryears Saturday night.

Josie B. wanted to help Trav blow out his candles

This picture is just ridiculous. It is blurry and was suppose to be of just the Siscos. As you can tell, that didn't happen.

I don't know how we didn't get a picture of Charles and Julie. They joined us Saturday for football and dinner. We are glad they were able to spend some time with Miss Josie because Josie loved Julie.

me & alone, do not mix

Sorry it's been a while since my last post.

Last week was a weird week. Travis left for East Tennessee on Wednesday morning. He was on Fall Break and decided to head home for a few days. To tell you the truth, I wasn't excited about him leaving. I have never stayed by myself for more than one night. Not a fan of it.

Wednesday night started out ok. Reecie and I climbed into bed pretty early. Around 2:30 am I wake up to a loud noise outside and Reecie barking and growling. I let her walk around the house, I peak out the front door (while shaking!!) but I don't see anything. A few minutes later, I hear it again. Reecie continues to growl and bark, which worries me. So, I call Travis. Not sure what I expect him to do 4 hours away but whatever. We talk for a few minutes, not sure he could even understand me through all of my tears and sniffling. While talking to him, I hear the noise again and he says, "Ok, I am calling Chip or Charles!" Long story short, Charles came over around 3:00, drove around the house, checked both sides and came to the conclusion that the loud noise was a train being loaded right down the street.

Thursday night....Reecie and I had a slumber party at the Puryears!

Friday night, we made it alone here.

Saturday, after hitting up the Germantown Festival with the girls we all headed back over to the Puryears to cheer on the VOLS. I had planned to stay home Saturday but Charles and Kyle were being mean boys and were saying scary things about me staying alone. So, once again, Reecie and I slept upstairs at the Puryears! (Thanks Friends for letting us stay! You saved us.)

Sunday was a great great day. One because, my strong hunk of a husband came walking through the door at 1:00 and two, Colts football. =)

Sunday night we went to the Libby's for a Fish Fry. It was a Bible Study Kick-Off party.

This week has already been long and busy but I know it will be better than last week. It just has to be!

So glad he is home!

therapy

I've mentioned before that painting is kinda like my therapy. I find it calming and relaxing. My latest projects have been for Miss Josie. But this summer I was really busy.

Here is a personalized Tennessee themed homework bucket.

A personalized toy bucket. Great for storing toys.

A girl from Kingston, saw my pictures on Facebook and asked me to make signs for her and some fellow teachers, too.

One of the two clipboards. The other one was super cute but I forgot to take a picture.

I had a little, ha, project for school. I was asked to make signs for our school. We revamped our hallways. They now look like there has been a huge Dr. Seuss explosion. They really look amazing. The teachers picked out the colors and theme for their own sign. Here are a few of the signs I made...

(Each sign is hung by very cute ribbon...)

Outside every classroom.

You will find these above our cafeteria doors.

Hanging on our Main Office door.

A tub I painted for our niece Sidney.

We filled it with lots of birthday goodies.

My next big project...Josie B's new big girl room and sweet things for Baby Matty. =)

labor day weekend with the devils

Like the past three years, we spent our Labor Day weekend in Durham, NC. Our plane landed around 10:00 et and we were picked up shortly by my Mom and Dad.

They then took us to a restaurant that is located in left field of the stadium where the Durham Bulls play. We met up with our friends, Ashley and Wes.

Once upon a time, when we all lived in Knoxville, we saw them every Saturday. Now we are lucky if we see them twice a year. They moved to Durham around the same time we moved to Memphis. Pickell works with the Devil football team. We love hanging out with them and wish we could more often.

Saturday was game day!

Dad and I getting ready to head to campus.

On our way to the tailgate, we passed the student's tailgate.

WOW.

They really know how to party. Walking by you could hear 5 plus different songs blaring, see hundreds of students dressed like it is Halloween dancing around and on top of cars.

It was insane. I have never seen anything like it, seriously!

Karen and Mom (the twins) at the Devil Walk. =)

Janny and Jimbo.

The Memphis Siscos.

Let's Go DEVILS.

David leading the team.

After the walk, we enjoyed some delicious food at the tailgate.

I love this picture. Will be in a frame soon.

Before the game, Dad, Travis, and I decided to go down to the field for a few minutes. We walked down the tunnel.

This is the tunnel the players run from at the beginning of every game.

Pre-game warm ups.

Let's GO DUKE!

Trav spent the second quarter on the sidelines.

I wanted a turn. Dad and I had a great view.

My first time on the sidelines.

(I must admit, I was kinda scared. I just knew I would be the one to get trampled on by a player. I made sure to stay out of their way whenever they were close!)

Sorry for the blurriness. I took this picture with my phone.

So excited to be in Durham.

A WIN for DUKE!

I didn't notice until putting the pictures on my computer what else was on the jumbotron at the time. Yep, DUKE will play Alabama in two weeks. We will be cheering for the Devils in Memphis! Check out the DUKE Football website to see the rest of their schedule.

Miss Em. She's almost as tall as me.

On our way out, we stopped by to see Pickell. So good seeing you!

We had a great weekend. It's always fun to be around family and football. Two of our favorite things.

We hope everyone has a great and safe Labor Day weekend.