Road Trip!

My friends and our kids took a road trip to Owensboro, Kentucky to visit our friend, Melissa. We piled into Amy's van (3 adults and 4 children in car seats and all our stuff...it was a little tight). We drove up on Wednesday afternoon. The kids slept part of the way. When we were about 30 minutes away, they were over being in the car. So we started the sing along of their favorite songs. It was so sweet to hear all of them singing Lord's Army and Deep and Wide. Times have changed for us girls...we use to be singing our favorite songs. When we got to Owensboro, we had dinner and a baby party for Jennifer. After that, we started putting the kids to bed which was eventful.

On Thursday morning, we all headed to Holiday World for a day of fun. Jennifer and I got lucky because there is a discounted rate for pregnant women...Yeah for us! We let all the kids do the kiddie rides and then went to the water park. They really loved it. Jackson was loving the slides in the kiddie area. After a late picnic lunch, we headed home. Everyone was exhausted.

Katie Anne, Emma, Jackson, and Sawyer after we arrived in Kentucky
Jackson and Melissa with the car and tractor she got for him...he was thrilled
Sawyer helps Jennifer open presents for Baby Sadie
Jackson, Katie Anne, Emma, and Sawyer are ready to go to Holiday World
The whole gang with Santa at Holiday World--

Melissa, Mandy, me, Jackson, Katie Anne, Amy, Emma, Sawyer and Jennifer

Curry Neelley's Wedding

This is the custom painted aisle runner. Tennyson Magness painted it with the couple's monogram in the center.
James and I pose for a quick picture during the ceremony.
Reception by the pool
The wedding cake

This weekend, I helped James Brown with Curry Neelley and Russ Long's wedding at the Baker Farm in Franklin. It was beautiful but a little hot. On Friday, we set up for the rehearsal dinner and had the wedding rehearsal. Saturday was spent doing the final preparations for the big day. Everything looked great...thanks to James' eye for detail. John and Alice Conger did the flowers and they were wonderful. As always, Portia was such a gracious hostess and so fun. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of the beautiful bride. Curry looked great! I hope she and Russ enjoyed their special day.

Congratulations Andrew!

Congratulations to my brother, Andrew Williams, on passing the Certified Public Accountant exam. We are all so proud of him. He has been working and studying lately. He passed every part on his first attempt which amazes me. Besides being smart and now a CPA, he is also an incredible brother and an awesome uncle. Here are two pictures of him. The one on the left is from Jackson's second birthday. The one on the right is from a skit at church camp a few weeks ago. One of my friends emailed me that picture from my brother's Facebook page. I hope he is not embarassed.

Happy Father's Day!!

Today we celebrated Father's Day at Outback, one of Andy's favorite restaurants. Both our families are out of town, so we enjoyed a celebration lunch with three (technically four) of us. Andy is an incredible dad who Jackson completely adores. They love to watch sports together, play basketball, cut the grass (Jackson watches from the bed of Andy's truck), play games at the pool, and make pancakes.

Jackson with the help of his teachers made a precious picture frame in Sunday school today. It was so sweet! Thanks to Ashley, DeeDee, and Niki...they have been great teachers!

Vacation Bible School

Last week was Vacation Bible School at Brentwood Hills. It was so much fun, yet tiring at the same time. Molly and I did the activities for the kids which was great. We had some awesome teenagers to help us make everything run smoothly. Jackson loved VBS (he called it "BBS")! He wanted to go back every afternoon after his nap. He loved playing outside on the riding vehicles, making crafts, and, of course, snacks. Here are some pictures of Jackson's fun time at VBS. At the top is a picture of him with his necklace that he made on the first day. I did think he would ever take it off.

Camp Okawhena

Andy and Jackson
Jackson on the trampoline bungee
WHEE...the big slide!
Andy's employees with Jackson

During the first week of June, Andy worked at Camp Okawhena in Lyles, TN. This is camp sponsored by his company for children with kidney transplants, disease, problems, etc. It is fully staffed with doctors, nurses, dieteticians, counselors, and staff. These kids would not be able to attend another camp because of their health problems. This is Andy's 7th year to work at the camp. It is a blessing for all the children and adults who are there. On Monday night, Jackson and I went out to the carnival they had at camp. There were about four carnival rides, five inflatable games, a magician, and, of course, cotton candy, popcorn, and snow cones. It was a huge production. All the children loved it, and Jackson did too. He still talks about going to camp and all the fun stuff he did.