Oh My Goodness - I Have a Six Year Old!

Happy Birthday Reed!! Can't believe my little guy is 6 - seems like not that long ago he was that crazy baby that climbed up a ladder only to jump off and sprain his wrist so he could only crawl one-handed, or that toddler who would stop breathing whenever he got upset and worried me to death, or the funny 2 year old that pretended to be a dog by stripping naked and putting himself in the dog pen while panting and barking! Oh, I love this little guy ~~

Reed had his 6th party at a local city pool - Grandparents from Memphis came, Aunt Julia & Uncle Scott came from Charlotte, and lots of good friends came to celebrate as well - thanks everyone - we had such a great time - glad you could join us!

I'm not gonna lie - dating a chef has it's advantages ;)


playing with the new cool foam sword set that Aunt Holly & Uncle Alex sent!




Our weird version of a family photo

Julia and Scott belly shot (and my new little nephew-to-be hiding in there somewhere)

Dupont Forest

We had a great time visiting with Betty & Lynn Houston over the 4th of July weekend... they are the boys' grandparents (on their dad's side). They came all the way from Memphis, TN to be here for Reed's birthday (on the 5th). They are so appreciated in my life - so respectful, loving, and helpful!

Betty & Lynn had a hotel room in Asheville, and took the boys to spend 2 nights with them!! The boys had a great time going out for ice cream, swimming in the hotel pool, going downtown for fireworks and having some fun grandparents time. They love their Gram and Papoo!

On Saturday, july 4th, Betty, Lynn, myself, Jay and the boys went to Dupont Forest - it's right near Brevard, NC. The waterfall areas were fairly crowded from the holiday weekend, but still fun. We hiked to Hooker Falls and Triple Falls, did a little swimming, and scenery-looking and then went back to Asheville for fireworks.

Thanks so much for coming out to celebrate with us Betty & Lynn - glad you could meet Jay and spend so much quality time with the boys!

Camping Trip to Nanatahala Gorge

I have every other weekend totally to myself when the boys go to their dad's house. Last weekend I decided I needed to get away from Asheville for a minute for a little R&R. I went camping with my partner-in-crime, Jay, to the Nantahala Gorge - it's just about an hour from Asheville. We had a great time - got a good bit of rain at night, but nothing we couldn't handle :)

We visited my friend Richard who was also there from Chattanooga, had a really fun time tubing on Deep Creek in Bryson City, NC, took our dogs on a little hike up Ledbetter Creek and explored around our campsite on a tributory creek to the Nantahala River.

cheezin it up for the camera


gossamer swimming in some muddy water

campsite - notice weird pipeline in background, for some reason, water was being diverted around this section of the river







Trying to get a good shot of Jay and me, but Mountain Laurel couldn't stand the attention not being given to her:


Jay is a serious bug finder - here he found a dobson fly outside a gas station in Bryson City ... eeewwww.

Clay Turns 9!!

Oh my goodness, how time flies! This child is 9 years old already - seems like not so long ago he was that cute little toddler, so quiet and cautious - he could spend hours going through his dad's toolbox or looking at his favorite book (which was Clifford the Big Red Dog, by the way :). Now he's halfway to 18 - yikes! He's totally into Legos, he has a whole room in the house devoted to lego creations. He's also a man about yu-gi-oh and his Nintendo DS. He's such a great kid, it's been a pleasure getting to watch him grow!

For his birthday, he wanted to branch out from our typical lots-of-families kind of party... he wanted an all-boy, no parents party! He said the theme was "boys gone wild"! hahah!! Two other mamas and 1 little sister did stay to hang out (thank you!), the boys' dad came, as well as my mom and her friend Tim being there. There were 19 boys, they had a campfire to roast marshmallows & hot dogs, they had a nerf gun vs. water gun fight, an impromptu game of baseball, some serious yu-gi-oh and bakugan trading, and some general rowdiness!

Random Spring '09

Whew - can't believe it's Summer already! Before I get ahead of myself, I'd better throw in the last of our Spring pics!

Here's yet another thing I love about North Carolina - when it rains, it is WARM! Colorado rain was very cold - here we can go out and play :)



Clay, Reed, Leah, Mountain Laurel and I went on a short hike on the Warren Wilson College campus one day - this was a great one by their farm, through the little bamboo forest, and of course along a creek - even though the water was chilly, the kids couldn't resist going for a dip...




We love our music, and sure get alot of it in these mountains~ here's when I took the kids to a special kids performance by The Lee Boys - my boys mostly sat down with some friends, but the two daycare girls I brought danced like it was going out of style!


And I got to go to Phish!!! The Asheville tickets were HARD to get, and I actually broke down and paid more than face value - but if you know me, you know that I've spent so much time following Phish around the country that I couldn't *not* go when they played in my home town. It was a very small venue (7,000) and they've been on a break for several years now - this show sold out in about 1 minute. When I finally got my ticket, I admittedly drank a bit too much to celebrate and could be heard yelling "I got my ticket!!" on the streets downtown hahah! Didn't get any pics in the show, but it was fantastic!! Also went to see them in Knoxville the next nite - most of these photos are from our phun time in Knoxville :)






Made some delicious blackberry syrup in an effort to use our neighbor Tater's blackberries he froze from last Summer (since they're nearly ripe this season already!), and also have seen quite a few lovely rainbows right over our house this Spring!