Yuuuuuuummmm!

Bethany made this cake for her Dad for his birthday!

Oh My Goodness . . . it was fabulously delicious!

(Being the chocolate lover that he is - He was in HOG HEAVEN).

Happy Birthday . . .

to my honey!

I thank God everyday for putting YOU in My life.

We have shared over half of our lives together

and I have never imagined it being any other way.

I love you,

Once upon a time there was . . . One Big Bear

Bear "The Legend"

No, I haven't changed team preference, I painted

this @ Sips-n-Strokes tonight for Granddaddy

for Christmas.  He loved Bear Bryant and I

know he will love this!

A SENSE OF TOGETHERNESS

SO LAST NIGHT TWO OF MY FRIENDS AND I FROM THE RANCH FINALLY GOT TO SEE EACH OTHERS FACES. EVEN THOUGH I'M IN ALABAMA, BRINLEY'S IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND BETHANY'S IN TENNESSEE IT KINDA SEEMED TO A POINT THAT WE WERE ALL TOGETHER AGAIN. I MISS THE RANCH ALOT BUT I MISS THE PEOPLE FROM THE RANCH SO MUCH MORE. I AM SO BLESSED TO HAVE MOST OF THEM EITHER IN BIRMINGHAM, AUBURN OR TUSCALOOSA BUT IT MAKES ME MISS THE ONES THAT LIVE IN TEXAS AND GEORGIA ALOT MORE. OH WELL I WILL SEE THEM SOON ENOUGH BUT FOR NOW ICHAT AND SKYPE WILL HAVE TO DO. THANKS FOR LISTENING TO ME.

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES FROM OUR TIME TOGETHER. WE HAD QUITE AN EXPERIENCE AND I AM SO THANKFUL FOR THE LAUGHTER WE HAD.

.this is my king.

i saw this video at church the other day and thought it gave a new outlook on all the things that OUR king is...

the hills are alive . . .

pictures from the ranch

sorry its taken me so long to upload pictures from the ranch but here are a few out of the 1,000 that i took.
order as listed:
redwoods.
golden gate bridge.
girls that i lived with.
me @ high camp on mt. shasta.
snack bar girls on dress up night @ the snack bar with chef bob.
sunset after we finally made it to the pacific.
what happens when you put 6 girls in a 10X10 room.
mt. shasta.

Somewhere over the rainbow . . .

This was the view from the front porch after the rain.

Isn't God amazing?

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay . . . in San Francisco:)

Bethany with the Oakland/San Francisco Bridge in the rear.

Short . . . but sweet!

B&K - glad we got to see you! Thank you for coming to spend the night so that we were able to see you before you headed back to Greensboro & Auburn. We love you!

21 years ago today . . .

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Brett's Trip(s) to Colorado

So I know these are a little late, but I wanted to post some pictures from the times Brett visited me in CO this summer.

This was during his first trip out here; we went to Garden of the Gods in CO Springs.

That is definitely one of my favorite places in Colorado. I love it! I think Brett liked it as well.

This was from the road trip out here. There's not much in Kansas, but these windmills were pretty cool, so we had to stop and admire them. If you could only know how HUGE they are real life... this picture does them no justice. I think the diameter of one is around 150 feet. Check out the pictures in this article.

This starts pictures from Brett's second trip. You can see the enthusiasm as we were getting ready to leave for our camping trip.

We visited a small town called Salida that was near our campsite. It was so quaint. I'm glad we got to visit.

There is a "mountain," in the form more of a hill, in Salida that we climbed called S Mountain. Here are Caitlin and Brett making their way to the top.

Brett and I looking off the top of S Mountain

There was a little look-out building at the top of the mountain.

On our drive home from camping, we stopped at the Royal Gorge, which was Brett's favorite place we went.

It was amazing.

We had a really fun time while Brett was here visiting. Thanks to my mom and dad for taking us on these adventures!

Happy Father's Day!

Such a nice surprise! Brett showed up at our church this morning to surprise his Dad for Father's Day. He also treated us to lunch at The Bright Star and it was soooo good. Bethany called to wish her Dad a Happy Father's Day (which was a surprise because we talked to her yesterday and didn't think we would get to talk to her again for a couple of weeks). Thank you Brett & Bethany just for being who you are! We love you.

Homecoming @ Church

Today was Homecoming @ church. It was good to see faces we haven't seen in many years like our friends Ken & Telissa Crews, Kevin Phillips & Bonita Jenkins Willingham and Jack & Etta Jenkins. And of course it is always GREAT to see Tony & Terri whom we do get to see a little more often than every 20 years. (BTW Terri - 10 days!!)

Telissa, Kevin, Bonita

Ken & Telissa

What a nice surprise!

Wade & Megan dropped in today and are spending the night at Nonna's. I went over to eat dinner (BTW - Nonna cooke a gooood dinner - as usual!). Megan and I are getting up early to go to yard sales. Here is a picture Megan took of me and Jaizy.

P.S. Caleb came with them and says "Hi".

hey!!!!

hey everyone. i finally got a chance to get on the blog and make a post after about 2 weeks. Everything here at the ranch is amazing. i love every second of it and can't even imagine the day that i have to leave. I miss you all so much and all your pictures are hanging up right beside my bed so you all get prayed for everyday during my quiet time. God is doing amazing things in my life. WAY to many for me to have room to type about. If everyone hasn't heard i'm head lifeguard so i definitely have one of the most amazing jobs at the ranch. I also get to do the ropes course and alpine tower everyday as well. This is the fastest and most beautiful pictures i could upload so far so thats why i'm only uploading one becasue i'm on a computer that was used during Moses' time so its a bit slow!!!!! but anyways this picture is of mt. shasta, the mountain i will be climbing in July. I took this picture the other day on the way home from rafting. It was at sunset and it was just breathtaking. Totally made me thankful for the amazing things that God created for us. I hope you all enjoy the picture and it brings you as much joy as it has me...even though its 1,000 times better in person:) but yeah i love and miss you all. call or write when you feel the need. oh and brett, mom, dad and kelsey be expecting letters soon:)

First pic to post from JH Ranch

Just spoke to Bethany. She said, "we left about noon yesterday to go whitewater rafting. We camped last night in a huge field with gorgeous mountains surrounding them and the guys cooked fajitas for dinner. We arose early to french toast prepared by the guys and left for rafting. It was so much fun. We had a great time. The beauty is just incredible." Our God is an awesome God!

Just for me!

Bethany fixed me Breakfast in Bed for Mother's Day and Brett prepared dinner for us last Saturday (since he was in route to Colorado on Mother's Day). He fixed Tomato Basil Chicken, braised asparagus, and Five Cheese Tortellini Soup. It was absolutely delicious! P.S. Our children have such amazing culinary skills!

She's off . . .

Bethany left this morning at 5:30 for J. H. Ranch for the summer.   If she accumulates ONE MORE item while there, she is gonna have to WEAR IT HOME because her luggage did not have one inch of space left!

(Bethany - if you get to view the BLOG - we know you will have a great time, but we will miss you.  Dad is already counting down the days!)

Belated Birthday Lunch!

After church, we met Brett for a belated "birthday lunch" at Vince's restaurant (The Sawmeal) in Brent. Vince & Vickie also got to join us, so that was a nice surprise.

"Thank You" Vince & Vickie for a great lunch and the time we got to spend with you too (especially since we don't get to see you as much).