T-Ball

Our years of sports with our boys has officially begun!!! Jed and I (especially Jed) has been waiting for his boys to start playing sports and the time has now arrived! Gavin just finished his first season of T-Ball. The first game or two were a little rough. Gavin can be very shy in front of a lot of people and then when he doesn't eat he is not very good at cooperating. (He gets that from his mother.) Anyway, after he knew what to expect and what was going to happen he was in! He of course loved to bat and hit the ball as far as he possibly can. He is also a great pitcher too. Gavin has quite the arm and can through the ball fairly far, fast, and with good aim as well. I loved it when he would be on first base and would throw the ball to home plate and the shock on the coach on the opposing team's face when the ball not only made it to him but wasn't too far off to one side or the other. We are so proud of Gav and his good sportsmanship! We love you buddy and enjoyed watching you play and look forward to MANY more sports games to come!!!

Gavin was able to be on the same team as his

cousins Jayden and Talmage!

Here are the GREEN MACHINES in their last huddle

at their last game of the season!

A Day of Rememberance

Today is Branson Jack Call's First Birthday! Today we celebrate the sweet spirit of a little boy that means so much to so many. This past Sunday we were honored to be a part of a birthday party for Branson. Natalie ( Branson's mom) put on a BBQ and a celebration at Branson's grave site. What a special day! We all were able to write a little message to Branson on a balloon and then send them up to heaven for him. This was such a neat experience for all who were there. Natalie said some sweet words of love and then we were able to feel of Branson's spirit as we payed tribute to him. A friend of Natalie and Rob put together this video clip from the day, and it says it all, and somehow captured the emotions of the day that were both of mourning and of celebration!

We love you Branson

and know that it will be worth the wait to be with you someday!

Graduation Time!

It's GRADUATION time again! I can't believe how fast this past school year went. I remember getting Gavin ready for his first year at preschool and Halie ready for her first year in the "big" school. Both Halie and Gavin had a great year and learned a lot. They both have grown so much in so many different ways. Halie has come out of her shyness a little bit more and more, and she is learning how to read and write. I have loved reading her journals that she had kept during the school year. Gavin too has learned that it is okay to leave mom and go for a few hours. That in itself can be a very difficult thing to learn. He has learned his days of the week and his months of the year. He loves to sing all the time now because that is what they would do at school. I love watching my kids grow and progress. They are so much fun and I am enjoying every moment!

Also this year both Jed and I have younger brothers that graduated from High School. Congrats to Jake and Ryan for making it through the tough years of High School! Of course they both graduated on the same day and so we had to divide and conquer! Jed went down to Richfield to support Ryan and I stayed here to support Jake. It was a fun and eventful day. I loved how when I looked at the pictures from this day that the one with my brothers and I how I look like the little sister when actually I am the oldest! Funny how all of that works. They have all passed me up by at least a foot. We were missing Jordy that day and we know that he is working hard in the mission field and doing what is best for him right now. Congratulations to all of the graduates and best of luck on your next adventures!

Our Trip to Kenucky, Nashville, & Memphis!

For my birthday this year Jed and I went on a little vaca to Kentucky to visit Natalie and Rob. OK, so the trip wasn't for my birthday it just so happened that when they planned the trip we left on my birthday!:) Anyway we flew into Louisville, KY. Our first stop when we got off the plane was to Churchill Down. This is where they hold the Kentucky Derby. WOW, was I surprised at what a huge deal this is. I knew that a lot of people watch and go to the derby and yet I was still stunned at just how big of a deal this horse racing is. It was a very cool place and it was interesting to hear about how it all works and how much money it costs just to stand on the grass and never even see the track on derby day, talk about some faithful fans!

All around Churchill Downs are plaques of the former winners of the derby with the date and year that they won. We found the horse that won the race the same day that Jed was born!

Here we are trying out the horses and seeing if we could hold the riding position for the entire race. It was a lot harder than you would think. 

Our next stop was the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. Also a very neat place. We were able to see how and where they make all of the bats and to also hold some bats that they have made for pro baseball players.

So for dinner Natalie and Rob took us to a pizza place called Puccini's. All I can say is that ever since that night I have craved twice baked pizza. I know it sounds crazy and all but all I have to say is that you would not understand unless you have tried it yourself. Natalie had told us about it before and I didn't get it until I had it. I couldn't have had a better birthday dinner! It was amazing!

After we spent the first night at the Call residence we started our little road trip. On our way to Nashville Tennessee we stopped and checked out the Mammoth Cave. This was a four and a half hour hike through this cave. It was great! I will say that after about two hours or so I felt like I had seen my fair share of cave for a while! We had some great laughs and a good time while in the cave, this made it all worth the trip!

Our next stop was Nashville, TN! I was so excited to visit Nashville. As anyone who knows me, knows that I am a big country music fan. You hear of Nashville all the time and I was going to be able to experience it for myself! It was a fun day. We walked around downtown and went into some boot shops and walked into a few bars to hear the singers sing. This is where these singers are trying to make it big. There are people singing on the streets too. It is a little nuts. We went on a carriage ride around downtown to see some of the sites! We had a great time and also some BBQ! Since that is what they do best down there! We had a little too much fun in some of the shops as you can see! 

After Nashville we were headed down to Memphis for the National BBQ Championship. This was my father-in-laws dream. I have never seen him so excited for this trip. When we got off the plane he screamed with excitement and proceeded to tell us that this was going to be better than Christmas! On our way out of town we stopped for breakfast at the famous Loveless Cafe in Nashville. WOW!!! It was so gooooood. Gotta love that southern cookin! They are famous for their biscuits and I must say...they were fabulous. 

We made our way to Memphis and we were aching for some "real" BBQ. We found this little whole in the wall called Rendezvous. We saw that this place was listed as one of the best places to have ribs... They were right! Once again Fabulous!!! Our waiter has been at this restaurant for over sixty or seventy years. He was great and loved his job!

Well we finally made it to the competition and once again shocked at how much the south loves their BBQ. Here is just a small portion of the competition grounds. It was nuts! It smelt really good and we had some good food as you can imagine!

We made our way back to Kentucky and stopped for some more BBQ at Boyd's Orchard. We wanted to get our fill of "good" BBQ while we could. Then we just drove around to see how beautiful the Kentucky blue grass is. Here are some pictures that I took out of the car window as we were driving. BEAUTIFUL is the only word to describe it. Thanks to Natalie and Rob for letting us crash at their home and to Gordon and Jackie for planning the trip. Thanks for a fun trip and loads of memories!

One of the Best Days of the Year!

Mother's Day has always been a day that I enjoy. I always loved doing nice things for my mother on Mother's Day growing up and now I get the chance to be a mother I look forward to this day. I love being a mother and there is nothing else in that I would rather do. Being a mother is one of the hardest and most stressful jobs out there and it is also the most rewarding as well! I have been so blessed to to have three wonderful and beautiful children. I enjoy the time that I get to spend with them. I love watching them grow and learn new things, although it is hard to watch them grow because I would love it if time would just stand still for a moment and let them stay little. This past school year Halie was in Kindergarten and they had a mom tea party day! This was a fun filled day that the mom's were able to come into the classroom and spend time with their kindergartner. It was really sweet, when the mom's walked into the room our child would come and take us by the hand and escort us to our seat. Then they served us some refreshments and a drink. After our refreshments we were treated to a foot message! This was unexpected and I was surprised at how excited they were to do this! Halie loved slathering lotion all over my legs and feet! Then while our feet dried,(this took a little bit because of all the lotion that was on our legs,) we read stories! It was a lot of fun spending time with Halie and getting the "royal" treatment!

Gavin made some fun things in his preschool for me for Mother's Day. They are so cute and made my day. I love this poem that is with his little hand print. It is so true and just melted my heart!

Gavin also made a little card for me and filled in the blanks. I laughed so hard and thought it is so fun to read about how they really see us. I am still a little confused at how I am a "giant" and yet I only weigh 4 lbs! Really cute card and again I just loved it!!

Halie's kindergarten class made us (the mothers) a cookbook! So darling. So they had each child write up their favorite recipes, yes the kids wrote them, and compiled them into a cookbook!

Halie loves to make chocolate chip cookies with her dad and so she wrote down the recipe for her entry into the cookbook! Priceless!!!

Finally here is my card that Halie printed off the computer and colored pictures for me. Halie knows that I love flowers and so she drew as many as she could on the front of this card with her and I holding hands! It just doesn't get much better than this as a mother!