Yay...

I’m so excited that tomorrow I get to see my niece Amy, and her beautiful new daughter Caroline. I haven’t seen them since right after the birth when they first got home (they live in Florence). Check back in the next few days, because I’m sure I’ll have lots of pictures to share :) In the meantime, here is a precious shot of my adorable little great-niece that her mommy sent me the other day:

Been a while…

... since I posted real thoughts, etc. Yeah, I know – I’m a horrible blogger! In a few months when it gets cold; hunting season starts back; and possibly things slow down for me personally; I’ll find myself with more time to share and write thoughts again. It was hunting season last year when I started my blog after all. I do spend a lot of time on Facebook – but that’s mostly because I can access/update it from my phone (usually while sitting in traffic).

So on this ‘occasion’, here’s a couple things – I recently had “another” birthday (boy they sure do come around quickly now). My sweet family took me to dinner and for ice cream and I really enjoyed it, luckily Isabella was here and got to join us! Thank you Cookie, Kristin, Josh, Ella, Bull and Bella – we missed you Patrick, Beth and Alston! Ella, and her mommy, made me the best birthday card I have ever received – I love it!!









Also, we got to have Bella again this past weekend! Having her 2 weekends in a row is so wonderful!







Oh, and by the way - we knew Bella loved ketchup, and we had discovered she really likes ranch dressing... but this past weekend I think we may have found her true love: honey mustard :)

Happy Anniversary...

To Josh and Kristin!! I love you both very much :)

Blue Angels at P'Cola Beach 2009...

You had to know it was coming; after all, we choose the date for our family vacation to Pensacola Beach based on the Blue Angels Air Show!! Kristin asked me during the show this year how long we had been coming to it… I had to think for a minute and gave her a ballpark figure. But I couldn’t really remember the exact number of years, so of course it bugged me and I had to trace back the dates!

I attended my first show on the beach with my sister, Gayle, by accident of just being there that weekend, the summer of 1996. Even though it was raining that day, the Angels had to do their low show, and we had to sit in the rain to watch – I fell in love and have not missed a show on the beach since!! It probably took me at least 5 years to convince Cookie to go with me… ‘just one time’ I kept telling him, ‘I promise you’ll enjoy it’. Needless to say, he MORE than enjoyed it, he too fell in love and the two of us haven’t missed a show on Pensacola Beach in July since :) So, that means I’ve faithfully made the show now for 13 years!! And even though I didn’t think it could get better, having all the kids join us now as a family tradition has literally made it my favorite time of the year!!

I hope you enjoy the slideshow of the “Best of the Best” pilots performing these amazing flight performances. I tried to put it together so you can see some of the maneuvers in action – with some still shots in between! Go Navy :)