bsmiles and sunny days

There were so many people I wanted to see while we were gone that I shoud have made a list; and while I was with the people that we did manage to see, I should have tied my camera to my wrist. I'm kind of forgetful, in case you didn't already know this about me. If I didn't see you, I apologize. I have good intentions, but my follow-through... I'm not a finisher. I did, however, manage to see Shanda, my long lost friend. She is just as adorable as I remember her being. Now she's married and living a happy life in a town not too far from my in-laws, which made seeing her while we were there just perfect. The kids were thrilled to see her too. After we spent the morning together, she said, "Now, I'm gonna need A LOT of hugs!" not realizing what she was signing up for. So my little overachievers lined up and took turns giving her hugs. When they would finish hugging her, they'd run to the end of the line for another turn. All of them did this, even ...

Breakfast on Saturdays is kind of like Sunday dinner at the Suttons' house. They make fried eggs, biscuits and bacon gravy, fried potatoes, sausage, bacon, and sometimes pancakes. It's an impressive spread that we get pretty revved up about. We bought this keyboard from Musician's Friend, a music warehouse that a few members of the family work for. They sell damaged instruments for discount on top of discount prices. This little gem ended up costing us $35 because it was missing some software and an instruction manual. The kids had fun messing around with the demos and playing Zelda theme songs on it. Kennedy is turning out to be kind of a prodigy with all kinds of music. We'll see where she lands after some instruction, should be interesting. This is Michael, April's son, and my nephew. He wasn't around much so I didn't get many pictures of him, so I was glad when I found this one. He's a junior in college and the sweetest guy, I just adore him. It...

I'm kind of a drag about stuff that I used to love. I swore it would never happen to me, but I grew up and had a whole bunch of kids and whenever I have a baby, I drag my feet about stuff that I should get excited about; stuff like being outside and swimming and walking in the woods. Stuff that kids love. And I always have a baby. Thank goodness for single, energetic aunts that know how to have fun. After the guilt of not being awesome passed I was reminded of why I drag my feet. April and Dana took the kids to Wal-Mart to pick out some fun stuff to beat the heat. They passed on my idea to cover the hill in trash bags and make a monster slide down it, they passed on the $9 slip and slide, and they went with a pool for the big kids, a pool for the babies, and the super-duper-slideintothesharksmouth-awesome-slip-and-slide. They debated about the best placement for the set-up because of septic tank issues, and decided this side of the yard would be best. Kennedy and April spent an hou...

You probably remember Marty and Amy from previous posts. They live in southern Missouri, Amy was 9-months pregnant, and they came all the way to Richmond to see us for less than 24 hours. **sniff** I love them. This is Noah; he's basically awesome. He's the oldest of, soon to be, three girls. He has worn glasses since he was little bitty and after a miraculous surgery, the details of which I cannot disclose, he can see. I would love to tell you the story, but you'd have to ask Amy. She knows I can't remember stuff. This is Anna. It took a long time for me to get a picture of her looking at the camera because even though she's not really shy, she was not interested in having a photo taken. She's just this adorable in real life. And you have to meet Emma. Leila just ran in here in a frenzy and said, "MOM! Who's that cute giwl?? Who's that cute giwl? Hers so cuuuute!" She really is too. She talked to me on the calculator for a long time. We're...

I love country living. I used to sort of look down my nose at people who spent all their time sitting in the yard staring at nothing, drinking iced tea. Now it's the way I hope to spend the last half of my life; funny how people change. You may recognize Grandpa, Pawpaw, Dale and Marty. There's no denying this little sweetness!!! She loves strawberries and she's mine. This was taken before the sun moved and the trees were shading this half of the driveway. That's Aunt Marsha standing up and then Cousin Jamie is sitting on the end in the blue shirt. I just love this family. It's so fun to be a part of it. Dana and Kennedy sat over there and talked for a long time. This is what she misses the most, no doubt, is being in the midst of the kids running all directions around her. Boo! Waaah! I miss it too!!! These little gentlemen, I barely recognized. They belong to Cousin Lisa. Liam is on the left and Ronin is on the right. They were so funny! Liam is like a little ball...

We only lived in Missouri for a few years, but those years were so significant that I feel like I'm home when we're there. These are my adorable in-laws. I just love them. And I especially love when we are all here together in the kitchen, getting together a good ol' country spread. And this is my awesome sister-in-law, April, whom I also adore. We had so much fun with her while Lonnie and Dana were working. This is Grandma and Grandpa Welker. They came over for our homecoming party. You wouldn't believe the food at these gatherings. I don't think I've ever been around a group of people this big that could all cook! SWEEEET! Here's Cousin Kaylee. She was just as happy as she could be to have some older girls to play with finally! They had so much fun with the Barbie collection in Mawmaw's basement. She has two brothers and a sister; I'll post pictures of everyone else at a later date. This is Cousin Jenny and her little dude- Second Cousin Jordan. Th...

Meet the Conleys, this is Bert and Dallas is in the background making pizzas. I can't fully express how significant this family was to me growing up, so you can imagine how excited we were to know that they were hosting us for their famous Conley pizza at their house. It felt really strange to see my kids playing with toys in the very same spot I used to park my Barbie car for the drive-in movie... ...and seeing them sprawl out on the sectional like it was their second home the way it was to me.... ... was just pretty exciting for all of us, especially these twins in their brown(ish) dresses. This is significant because this giant table still looks brand new even though we played ping ping on it, made forts under it, fought over which seat we'd get at meal time, and this is the same pizza the made our mouths water all those years ago. Still just as good as I remember it being. It was just really cool to share this home with my own family. The kids even said, "Are they lik...