Lake Toxaway with the Burkes

Bryan's aunt and uncle, Sara Jean and Fred Burke, invited us to spend the Fourth of July with their family at their beautiful home on Lake Toxaway in North Carolina. We jumped on the opportunity and I can not tell you how much we enjoyed the weekend with them. It was fun and relaxing.

As always, Fred led a sing along but the best was Howell showing off his violin skills. He has only been taking for 6 months and he is doing an amazing job! I mean a really amazing job. I can not wait to see how he progresses. Next time I am bringing my violin for a duet.

We took the kids into Brevard for the Fourth of July festival and Lily Grace and Liam enjoyed face painting and the bounce house.

Sara Elizabeth and Lily Grace

Everyone but me enjoyed skiing but it was Lily Grace who stole the show! She is 5 years old and look at her go. This was her first time getting up on "big" skis and she did an awesome job.

Bryan did a great job on the wake board even though it had been a while since the old man had practiced his skills.


Parker, the most experienced wake boarder, impressed us with his ability to jump the waves.

Parker enjoyed throwing Lily Grace off the boat. It was hilarious!

Fred took us out on the boat for the fireworks Sunday night. We all enjoyed the beautiful show and the nice cool breeze.

Sara Elizabeth and Will


Liam did not like the loud noise of the fireworks. He even buried his head and missed the show. It was a little sad, but funny at the same time!

Goldens at Lake Toxaway

The first time I met the Burkes, I liked them. Then I saw their dogs and I knew I liked them! They have 2 Golden Retrievers, Murphy and Jackson and they are SO great. Murphy reminds me so much of Casey and Jackson reminds me of my parent's golden, Molly. They love the water and the boat and were just so much fun to have on the lake. They are some good pups!

Murphy chillin' on the boat

Jackson being a big baby!

Jack Stuckey

On our way to North Carolina, we stopped in Atlanta to see our friends, Ward and Caroline Stuckey. They have a new baby, Jack, and he was just precious. It was cute to see Bryan holding him and looking so natural. Only 4 and 1/2 months until he will get lots of practice at our house!

Chi Omega Weekend at the Farless Lake House

This weekend, I was invited by the Auburn Chi Omega girls to join them for their get together at the Farless family lake home. I have been so lucky to have met some of the nicest girls after college in Birmingham and most of them went to Auburn and were Chi Os like me. Ashley Farless' parents have a beautiful home on the lake in Chattanooga and were the best hosts to us. We relaxed, ate, swam, laughed, and enjoyed the entire weekend.

The group (minus Farless). FYI, Cali is not holding her daughter. That sweet baby is the 3 month old daughter of Natalie (black shirt), who came from Texas. Her husband is in Iraq. She was an angel!

Pam and Joe Farless, our wonderful hosts.

Cali and Lauren

Cali enjoying her margarita.






Mrs. Pam and Lauren

Update on Casey's Hair-Do

Here is a picture of our "victim." As you all know from an earlier post, Casey got her hair shaved and it was a bit shocking. After almost 2 months, here is the beautiful girl with her hair growing out. She is still loving life and I do take her on walks even though she looks crazy. The funniest thing is one night I was on a walk with her and this man walked by and asked in a very funny tone "Is that a Golden Retriever?" I said yes, she has been shaved.....he busted out laughing.

Stephanie's Bridal Shower

Last Saturday, June 19, I hosted a shower at my house for my friend Stephanie. She and Reid are getting married on August 26th and several girls and myself had a brunch for her. It was great to use my china and crystal for one of the first times and I love getting the house ready for any party. She had a good turnout and received many wonderful gifts.

My sister, Leigh Anne, painted a "Marshall" canvas for her. She loved it.


Stephanie with Reid's Mom (left) and her Mom (right).

THS 15 Year Reunion

Saturday night, Bryan and I went to my 15 Year High School Reunion and it was so fun! I keep up with a lot of people in my class and thanks to Facebook, this Reunion was not full of the awkward questions like "where do you work" and "do you have kids?" Instead, we were able to have a great time laughing and recalling old THS stories! It was nice to really get to talk to everyone and hang out. We didn't take many pictures at all so sorry for the lack of photos.

The Class of 95.

Steven, Jarrod, Neil, and Brendan
Kenzie and Joe hit the dance floor for a two step!

Bryan had a great time at the party too. He knew more people that he thought he would. We stayed out so late, Bryan even fell asleep at the table!

It's a BOY!

Well, this morning I went up to the hospital to Radiology and took advantage of my back door access to the ultrasound machine and DeDe (ultrasound tech at Trinity) was able to confirm that we are having a boy! I must say, the look on Bryan's face was priceless. He looked SO happy and it was so sweet. I was very surprised because the baby's heartbeat had been so high (in the 170s) and I had a feeling it was a girl. However, I quickly became excited and went out the afternoon and bought some boy clothes and visited the paint store. We are very blessed and have so much to do to get ready for this baby and I am going to enjoy every minute of it!

Memorial Day Weekend Visitors

Georgia Anne and Jack came and stayed with us this past weekend and we had the best time. They love to come up and spend the night and I just love having them as well. We had some fun outings including the pool (we forgot the camera) and bowling. Georgia Anne has bowled before and was really good and this was little Jack's first time to bowl. He was so cute watching the ball go down the lane and would get so excited every time. They were very well behaved, slept great (thank goodness) and ate lots of snacks. Bryan could not believe how much food these two tiny children could eat. It really is funny but we always say that they burn it ALL off running around so much.

Mousie and Jaguarie came along to the Bowling Alley and even bowled a few times.

As I said, Jack would get SO excited. It was the cutest thing ever.

The kids also love to play "wedding". She found a necklace and high heels and put on one of her dresses. She said the rug in the foyer was the aisle. I thought it was too funny that Jack ran in my room and found a pair of my flip flops to wear for "the ceremony".