Cross Country begins

 It's summer conditioning time for Walhalla Cross Country Team and this year Henry is running too!  This is Nate's  3rd year and I'm so excited!  Can't wait to see how much fun we have this year

Happy Father's Day! 2017

 Happy Father's Day to these 3 men!  Bryan, John Daddy and Papa!  Here are a few pictures I came across of them through the years!  Here is Bryan with Nate on a ride at Myrtle Beach.

 Papa teaching Luke how to shoot a gun and John Daddy with Henry and Nate

 Papa and Mema with Nate and Henry at a band concert and John Daddy walking me down the aisle on October 8, 1999

 Papa gave us a scare Thursday night.  He is still recovering from his prostate surgery and ended up in the Greenville ER with a hernia.  He had surgery Friday and came home Saturday evening.  Hopefully he is finished with his hospital stays for a long time!  We had a great weekend spending time with family.

 Anna made a delicious tomato pie!  and Henry built a taser

 Cousin love in DeeDee's pool!

Summer Days

 We had the best time yesterday evening hanging out with Faith, Danny Colt and Austin.  Colt is taking swimming lessons in our neighborhood pool and yesterdays lesson was the same time Bryan got off work.  We hung out on the boat, ate spaghetti and let the kids play in the rain.

 Yesterday morning we enjoyed a seminar about the upcoming eclipse!  August 21, 2017 is a big day for upstate South Carolina!  A total solar eclipse will happen at 2:37 pm and last for exactly 2 minutes and 47 seconds!  Pretty cool!  Robin, JD and their 4 kids are planning on coming to visit for the event.

 John Daddy celebrated his 67th birthday this past Sunday!  Cliff had some friends in town so they joined us for a pool party.  We missed Mark Denise Silas and Merritt but we are looking forward to seeing them on Father's Day

 Bandit getting her first bath.

8th grade dance - Nate

That night we surprised them with a limo for their 8th grade dance.....

Cranking the tractor

Here is a video of the first time Nate cranked Grandaddy's old tractor.  The look on his face is priceless!

Nate's boxcar - watch until wreck at the end

Nate built this boxcar out of trash he retrieved dumpster diving.  Here is the first (and last) ride on it.

Grandaddy's tractor

This is Grandaddy's tractor that he worked in his gardens with back in the 1970s.  He had several gardens, his most favorite thing was giving vegetables to his family.  I remember us always having bushels of potatoes in our basement, cans of green beans, peas, you name it, he grew it!  I suppose this was his first tractor and he loved it because after working all day at Sangamo, he was able to get much more accomplished.  It has been sitting in my parents barn for  20 years, unable to run.  Back in the fall, Bryan and Nate started taking it apart, making repairs and putting it back together.  February 24 was a big day, because it finally cranked!  I wish you could have seen the look on Nate's face, and I know Grandaddy was beaming down from heaven on his great grandson, who is a meticulous worker, just like he was.  

Spring Break projects and the month of March

 We have traveled every spring break for 5 or 6 years!  This year we decided to take our big trip over the summer break so we stayed home for spring break.  Bryan had the week off so this gave us lots of time to do some much needed projects around the house.  The boys all pained chalk walls in their bedrooms.  We also did some serious cleaning out - thank you DeeDee for all your help!

 Silas and Merritt with Luke.  And here is Henry when you tell him there is work to be done!

 Luke found a video of Bryan's ex-girlfriend and I think he and Bryan made a good decision about what to do with it.  I'm still a little jealous I guess.

 Just had to throw these in.

 Luke put this cross in our yard all by himself.  Oh my heart....

 Luke's room after some major renovations.  And after Bryan scrubbed the kitty diarrhea off the orange rug.

 Band fun... here is Nate at Concert Performance Assessment.  Of course they scored superior.

 I got to see my sweet friend Shannon when her mom passed away.  She lives in Colorado and although we don't talk much, we always seem to fall right back into our lovely friendship when I see her. Emmie, Alicia and I took her family dinner.

 Nate's infamous Box Car!  this is something he constructed out of trash from the big trash cans up where they are building our new club house.  he got the tires off some old bikes we had.  I'll post the video of him driving it for the first (and last) time with a terrible wreck at the end.  No more box cars.

 Henry's Beta Club induction.

 Luke dying Easter eggs and Henry and Stryder before their school dance.