West Virginia Trip

Bruce and I recently returned from our trip to West Virginia. If was his first trip there.

We left here on a Tuesday and drove to Nashville then on to Jenn's apartment on Thursday. Kaylie, Ryan, Reed and Kelsie came over that evening and ate supper with us. Reed had just woke up from a nap and was not too sure of us, he was afraid of Bruce because he had a ball cap on. Needless to say, the cap came off and was not worn again!!! He finally warmed up to us.

While we were there Kaylie and Ryan had Reed's first birthday party even though he won't be one for a week or so. He was born nine weeks prematurely but as you can see, he's doing just fine.

The theme of his party was Elmo (or Mo-Mo as he calls him) and Jenn baked and decorated the Elmo cake. It turned out really cute. Ryan, Jenn, Kelsie and Kaylie all wore Elmo shirts.

Got some good four generation pics and pictures of Jenn and her girls Kaylie (19), Kelsie (15 1/2) and Brianna (13).

Enjoy.

Nashville

When Bruce and I went to West Virginia recently we spent a day in Nashville. He's a real country music fan so I knew that he would love the city.

We spent most of the day at the Country Music Hall of Fame. We toured the famed Studio B where tons on country music stars recorded songs. This is where Elvis recorded most of his songs. In fact, the piano that is pictured is the one he used and you'll see Bruce looking at a cabinet, that's where Elvis kicked the cabinet.

After returning from the Studio B tour we toured the Hall of Fame. I'm not a history or museum buff but I thoroughly enjoyed the Hall of Fame and spent just as much time as Bruce did looking around.

If you're a country music fan, put this on your bucket list!!!

Kiddie Land

Today Megan and Ricci wanted to go out to dinner so I graciously agreed to keep Parker. I decided we'd go to Kiddie Land at Lyon's Park in Waco. It's a very small place with about six rides and a train that goes around the park. He had a blast. He thought he was big stuff since: 1) he gave the attendant his own ticket, 2) he could ride everything except the train by himself. He drove a boat, road the train, drove the horse buggy, rode the horse on the carousel, flew a rocket ship and flew an orange thing-a-ma-jig.

After we finished at the park, we had just enough time to go by McDonald's and get Parker a Happy Meal and go to our house so he could eat dinner with Grampy.

Enjoy the pics.
PS - he wants to take Ashton and Landry there next time they come to visit!!!

Sorry, try Facebook

I have tried to post two Parker videos on this blog but for some reason they won't upload.

I have posted them on my Facebook profile. One was last week, Parker's Tools and today's is Parker's Pool.

Ham-Bilyeu Reunion

This past Saturday was the 96th annual Ham-Bilyeu Reunion. Mom and I left on Thursday and stopped in Edmond to visit some of her cousins. We had a nice lunch with Lila, Connie, Barbara and Virginia.

Then we went on to Stillwater and spent three nights at Aunt Vera's house. Of course, in my mind, it's not an official trip to Stillwater unless I eat at Bad Brad's BBQ so we did that on Thursday.

Friday morning we spent visiting the Pryors. I hadn't seen David in 20 years. Also got to visit with Aunt Olive and cousin Mark and his wife Christi. Friday afternoon we spent visiting with Grover and Ginny in Perkins.

Saturday was reunion day. Got to see a ton of people (it had been two years since we'd been to our last reunion). The food and fellowship were great. Saturday night we spent at the Pryors again and visited the David, Mark and Aunt Olive again and added Greg and his family, Edd and Barbara and their granddaughter Toni. Had a good time telling stories (mostly David telling embarrassing stories about Edd).

Stayed until Sunday morning so mom could go to Sunday school and church.

Hope you all enjoy the pictures.

PS - BIG props to mom for buying a digital camera while we were there (I forgot to take mine!!!)

Downsizing

Many people are downsizing now days, I joined those ranks but not with a house, a car.

Now that Bruce has a big truck with air conditioning, there was no need for me to also have a large vehicle.

So, I traded in Elvira the Expedition for Edie the Edge.

Just my size, a cute car to boot! It even matches my hair color!!!

Happy 40th!!!

Yesterday Bruce and I celebrated our 40th anniversary. The girls had a luncheon for us at Megan's house with some yummy Mexican food.

It was so awesome to have almost everyone together for this momentous occasion. Bruce and I really appreciated everyone who was able to share it with us.

Ashton (age 7) decorated the cake. She took a cake decorating class just before Mother's Day and has become an expert as you can see from our cake. She even drew up a plan of what she wanted to put on the cake and carried through with the plan. Way to go Ashton, we are so proud of you and your cake decorating abilities. This cake means much more to Grampy and me than a store-bought one would have.

We got some really nice cards and the "remember whens" were priceless. We were all laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes.

I got a really special present from Bruce via my mom and dad. Dad had given mom a necklace that had little diamonds shaped into a heart with a ruby in the middle for their 40th anniversary. They gave it to me. After that, there was not a dry eye in the house. What a precious gift!!!!

I have taken many pictures of the necklace, trying to get a good shot of it but what I'm posting here is the best of the lot. It is kind of blurry and doesn't do it justice but you get the idea.

Thanks again for all the special memories from yesterday.

PS - one super-cute thing... Parker and Landry (both 2), didn't understand what an anniversary was and kept telling Bruce and I "happy birthday Grammy and Grampy".