So I've been gone for a while.....

Well....it's been quite a long, long time since I last "blogged" and have been contemplating whether or not to get back to it and I am "biting the bullet" and am going to give it another shot! :) I keep all of my pictures on facebook but still want to actually write about what's going on in life so I'll have something to look back on from time to time and what better way to do it so here goes nothing....

So the last post I made was in 2009 about Bryson's baptism and 4th of July and we all know a lot has happened in almost two years! Will still continued to attend Sunshine House and loved it there and was learning so much which we were very thankful for at the time! We had another fall season of Clemson football and most of you know we love this time of year for that reason alone! :) We of course celebrated another Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas by spending lots of time with family and friends which we love so much! I found out in November of 2009 that I was pregnant again but shortly after finding out I went back to the doctor for another ultrasound because the first one was so early on in the pregnancy and they couldn't find a heartbeat....this was devastating to me and was even harder on me because Rick was out of town (this also happened with the first miscarriage that I had before we became pregnant with Will) so I was dealing with it all on my own until he came home that day. This was and still is hard on me from time to time but I know that God has His reasons for everything and I'm trusting in His plans for me and our family!

In January of 2010 we registered Will for kindergarten!!! I know....I couldn't believe it myself that time had flown by so much and that my baby had grown that quickly! Will had his "graduation" from Sunshine House which was held at North Springs Elementary School...they had the cutest program and it would've been an almost perfect night if Will and some of the other boys could've behaved themselves on stage...no such luck though! Graduation from Sunshine House didn't mean the end though....Will still continued there throughout the summer for their summer camp program. He had a fun-filled summer with many wonderful field trips of which quite a few of them I was able to participate in which was so much fun for me too!

Will also started t-ball this year and it was a wonderful season! He learned so much and is quite the little athlete! His team was the Hooks! He loved it so much and we are continuing with it again this year because he loved it so much!

We also found out early this year (2010) that my grandfather had cancer which was very hard for all of us! We decided to have a celebration for he and my grandmother for their 61st wedding anniversary since we knew this would most likely be their last...we had a cake made for them and a delicious meal and had all the family over together! They were so surprised and loved everything so much! I'm glad that we were able to do this for them because we could tell it meant the world to them! Granddaddy was quite the fighter throughout the months that he was battling the cancer but on July 28th of 2010 he "went home to be with the Lord." This was a very hard time for all of our family and it's still hard on us from time to time....I catch myself tearing up every once in a while when I go through old pictures and see him in them....I miss him so much but do know that he's in a better place and not suffering anymore and just thinking about that makes me happy!

We celebrated Will's 5th birthday party and had a Clemson football themed party and had a blast!!! The Papp's rented a humongous water slide that was fun for all ages and it couldn't have been a better day weather wise! The food and cake was all wonderful and I can't wait to do it all over again this year! Will also started kindergarten 2 days before we had his party....such a bittersweet time for us! Our "little" Will was just not so "little" anymore! The first start of the school year was quite an adjustment for Will and rough from time to time but he did finally start working through some of his issues and is doing much better now....still has his days but it's still much better than the start of 2010's school year! :) He's learning so very much in kindergarten and his teacher, Ms. Holly Turner is an amazing teacher.....she's so very patient and does so many wonderful things for their class! We've been so very pleased with her and know that God placed Will with her for a reason!

September also brought about the start of another Clemson football season!!!

Ava was also born on September 24th and was just as precious as her big sister, Emma, and big brother, Bryson! I love them all so much and am so blessed to have such wonderful nieces and an amazing little nephew! :)

Our family friend/"mother," Jane Kimbrell went to have heart surgery in Cleveland, OH, in October 2010 and everything seemed to be going well but unfortunately she ended up with complications and we lost our dear friend in November of 2010! This loss hit me so very hard...this was not easy on me at all because she was such a close friend to our family and was really like another mother to me growing up. She is still missed so much and it's hard seeing picture of her too....I find myself with tears in my eyes every time. We loved her so much and again, the only thing that makes me happy about her being gone is knowing that she is with the Lord and is having the time of her life! At least we know we'll be with these loved ones again one day!

We headed to Florida over the Thanksgiving holidays this year (2010) to attend Rick's cousin, Tammy's wedding and since we were going to be going the Papp's planned for us to have a couple of days at Disney World also!!! This was Will's first time to Disney and it was so worth it!!! I can't wait for the day that we do it again because we all had so much fun together!!!

Christmas wasn't too far after this wonderful trip to Disney and the excitement just continued on for all of us! I love Christmas so much and am so fortunate to have a husband who loves it and giving just as much as I do! :) Thanksgiving and Christmas this year were the first holidays without Granddaddy (we weren't around for Thanksgiving though) so this was hard on all of us to not have him around....I know it will eventually get better on us but it definitely doesn't make it any easier right now.

We also lost Rick's grandmother, Erna Young, on December 16th (I believe), which was very hard on us....she had been battling cancer for about 3 years and man was she a fighter!!! She was trying so hard to make it until the 18th of December so she could be there for Rick's cousin Brian's wedding but unfortunately she didn't make it....she went "home" to be with the Lord and again, we know that she is in a better place and rejoicing!!!

We had our first snow of the winter months on the night of Christmas Day....it was beautiful!!! It didn't last very long but while it was there we enjoyed it!

So....as you can see the past two years have been quite eventful for us and we have joked about 2011 having to be better than 2010.....I sure hope that is the case for us all!!!

Happy 4th of July and Bryson's Baptism

Happy 4th of July to everyone!!! I hope that everyone had a very safe and fun 4th of July with family and friends!

I was supposed to have a biopsy done on Wednesday of last week but earlier in the week my throat started to hurt and by Wednesday morning I was pretty sure it was strep throat so I called my doctor's office and got worked in for later in the day and in the meantime I went on to my appointment for the biopsy but once I got there and told them how I was feeling they decided it would be safer to reschedule so we did that and I went home until my next appointment for my sore throat. As I suspected, I did get a positive test for the strep throat and went and got some medication right away so I'd start feeling better as soon as possible. In the mean time my mom had come to help out for the day with Will and since I wasn't feeling well she ended up spending the night which thrilled Will! They went for a long walk through the neighborhood and played chase in the park and my mom cooked dinner for us which was a big help!

I had doctors orders to stay out of work that Thursday and Friday was a day off for me so Will, my mom and I headed to Rock Hill on Thursday evening for the holiday weekend! We didn't do much on Thursday because I didn't want to infect anyone but on Friday Will and my mom rode bikes, we went and got alterations taken care of for me for my dress for DJ's wedding and ran some other errands and later in the evening we headed to Elizabeth and Ben's house to eat pizza and let Will and Emma play in Emma's pool and run through the sprinkler. They also were treated to a bath in the jetted bath tub, which they love!

On Saturday I slept in and we later went and hung out with Elizabeth, Ben, Emma and Bryson for a while since they weren't going to be with us that evening. We came back down to my parent's after playing and Will and I worked on making macaroni and cheese for lunch for the next day...Will was so excited to be able to help out and actually did a very good job!

Kent and Meghan suggested that we go to the Charlotte Knights game that evening and enjoy the fireworks show afterward so my dad went online and ordered us tickets - by the time he tried to order them all the regular seats were taken but we were able to get tickets for the hill, which turned out to be great seats, especially for the fireworks! My dad got a few too many tickets and ended up selling some to my aunt and uncle and some of their friends. Rick came up for the evening which was a nice treat and we all piled into the Suburban that evening after eating supper at my parents and headed to the stadium. We had so much fun watching the game, eating funnel cake and cotton candy and hanging out with each other and the fireworks show after the game was phenomenal!!!

Sunday was Bryson's baptism and he did a wonderful job! We all headed to Elizabeth and Ben's after church for lunch and everything was delicious! We enjoyed spending time with our family and Ben's and were so happy to be able to share in Bryson's special day!

2009 FAMILY BEACH VACATION

We just got back the other week from our annual family beach vacation (June 20 - June 27, 2009) and had a blast as always!!! We couldn't have had a better week weather wise - it didn't rain at all until Friday night right before dinner time and then cleared away in time for those that were going out for dinner to go out and eventually all meet up later that evening at our favorite ice cream place, PAINTERS! We even got a rainbow from the rain! :)

We spent most of our time as always on the beach playing in the sand, laying in the sun, reading books, playing in the ocean and taking walks on the beach! Lots of card games were played at night and we watched some movies together - got to watch Marley and Me for the first time and loved it!!! The boys played some football and baseball from time to time and paddle ball and bocci ball was played a good bit too. We built some sand castles, dug huge holes (Rick and Christopher even built some holes with stairs) and caught lots of little crabs that were brought in with the massive amounts of sea oats! Will even got to go kayaking with his great uncle Bob and he was so excited about this because Bob even let him "paddle" - he was so proud of himself!

We had our night out to eat with the whole family to Nance's and had a nice time hanging out with everyone there and taking some pictures afterward.

Kent and Meghan went out shopping one day and came home with some adorable shirts for Will, Emma and Bryson:

Will's was a Duke's of Hazzard shirt, Emma's was a Carolina Cutie shirt and Bryson's was a cute little shirt (can't remember what it said but it was cute). Will was so excited about his and wanted to try his on right away so I got some pictures of course!

The rest of the week was spent just hanging out together with everyone and we all had so much fun together!

My dad, Kent, Rick and Ben went golfing on Friday so myself, mom, Elizabeth, Meghan and the kiddos went to eat breakfast at this place called Eggs Up Grill - everything was delicious (a little stressful with dealing with Will and Emma because they were pretty worn out by Friday)! After breakfast we headed back to the beach house to get ready to head out for our last day. Will and I headed to the store, JAWS, for him to spend his money that was given to him by his great grandparents and he ended up getting a stuffed shark and a plastic shark and orca whale - he loves them all! It was nice for us to get out for just a little while with just the two of us!

I don't know what it was about this year but I know I had a wonderful time with everyone and look forward to many more years to come with my wonderful family! I'm so glad that we've been able to do this together for as long as we have - it's something very special to all of us and has given us some very special memories in our lives!!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

I know this post is a little behind but Father's Day occurred while our family was away on our annual beach vacation so I wasn't able to write anything. I just wanted to wish all of the amazing father's out there a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY and hope they had a great day with their families! I know that I am very blessed to have an amazing father - I couldn't ask for anyone better than my dad! I love him so very much and consider him a great friend! God truly blessed our family with my dad...he's been there for our family through so much and has helped us to create so many wonderful memories throughout our lives and I hope to continue making more amazing memories with my dad and family! I also wanted to take this time to "brag" on Rick....he is needless to say an amazing husband and better yet a fantastic dad to Will!!! Will strives so hard to be just like his daddy and I couldn't have asked for anything more! We love him so much and hope that he had a very Happy Father's Day!

Since we were at the beach for Father's Day I decided to make pancakes for everyone that morning to treat the father's and everyone else. We also did our dinner that night and for a special treat for the dad's we did banana splits!

Will gave his gift to Rick before we left for the beach...it was a hat that he made in daycare that said World's Greatest Dad and he was so proud of it! He had also made a card at school. I was able to get some pictures of Rick with his hat and this was the cutest of them all:

Like Father, Like Son

Will loves mowing the grass with his daddy and so as soon as he saw Rick come out with the lawn mower tonight he just had to go and get his lawn mower too! He's so precious and just absolutely adores his daddy so much and so wants to do everything like Rick! He's always saying, "one day I'll grow up to be big like daddy?" We of course have to tell him he's got to eat like daddy to grow up as big as him one day! :)

Another Fun Swimming Day at Grandmom and Grandpop's

We headed to Rock HIll on Sunday since it was such a warm, sunny day to go swimming at the Papp's! Will was so excited about this and Rick and I were looking forward to the relaxation ourselves! Will had a blast as always hanging out with his grandparents and swimming in the pool. He even started jumping off of the diving board - he wanted Rick to hold his hand the first time and as he was jumping Rick let go! Will was so proud of himself for doing it all by himself so he continued jumping off of the diving board and jumping all over the pool the rest of the day! It's been so much fun watching him really learning how to swim! It makes me so happy to see all that he is accomplishing but sad too because my little baby is not a little baby anymore - he's a BIG BOY!!!

Last Day of 2009 Swimming Lessons

Will had his last session of swimming last night (6/11/09) and had a blast! The night before was cancelled due to storms and we were worried that last night was going to have the same outcome because some very bad storms rolled in that evening but luckily it all passed on by in time for the lesson. Rick had been out of town and was able to get there right in time to surprise Will before they went to watch a safety video...Will was so happy to see Rick!!! After the safety video was over they came out and put on life vests and goggles and practices jumping into the water, kicking, laying on their backs, etc. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Will learn and am so very proud of him!!! Can't wait until next year!

These are pictures of the storms trying to ruin the last night there but luckily they kept on going but this was an awesome sight to see!







Safety Lessons:















Video of Will practicing jumping - he loves this so much!