Home Sweet Home

On Monday, Stroker took on the task of driving us all back home. We arrived back around 6 pm. Worn out and sun burnt, we managed to unpack the car and start laundry. I don’t know what got into Stroker, but he tore into mowing the lawn when we got home.

We all spent Tuesday sleeping in and lounging around the house. We had a good time at the beach, but the traveling had caught up with us.

Wednesday, we were still tired, but had to get back to our normal routines. After church Wednesday evening, we joined Debi, Sterl, Lee and Judy for dinner at IHOP. Sterl was in shock that Devin showed up to join us.

Brookelynn vacuumed out my car for me today. I had to go back to visit Dr. Boston because my crown has been driving me crazy since the day that he put it in. Turns out that I am stuck with it. Dr. Boston wanted to re-drill the tooth behind the crown and fill in the gap with filling rather than ordering a new crown that fits properly.  Him drilling on my teeth is what started this entire ordeal. No thank you Dr. Boston, you will not be drilling my teeth anymore.

Sunburn Central

When we woke up this morning, Darlene, Brookelynn and I took a two mile walk up the beach. It was a great walk; however, I didn’t apply sun block like I was supposed to. It was another great beach day. Although I spent the day under the umbrella, except for the morning walk, I was lobster red when we went in this evening.

This is Crab Island in Destin

Beach Bum

I spent another day of my life as a beach bum today. It was great until we came in this evening and I noticed that some sun made its way past my sun block.  The situation isn't too bad. Just a light burn.

We had dinner at a new place tonight. Pompano Joe’s. I think it is my favorite so far. Brookelynn loved her twice baked potato.

We are running low on supplies at the condo so we made a run to Wal-Mart and made a pit stop at Krispy Kreme before heading back.

The full moon tonight was breathtaking. It lit up the entire beach.

Early to Rise

It was 2am when the alarm went off. I felt like I had just closed my eyes.  We loaded up the car and set out south bound. We arrived at Ft. Walton at 10 am and headed straight out to the beach after getting the car unpacked.

We spent most of the day on the beach. I made sure to use plenty of sunscreen. This evening, we went to dinner with Darlene, Gary and the kids at “The Crab Shack”.  It was good, although we are not big seafood eaters. We took a night stroll on the beach and Devin spotted a jellyfish, crabs the size of hamburgers and a sting ray.

Peaceful Travels

Today the kids left with Darlene and Gary in route to Fort Walton Beach Fl. We are in for a peaceful journey later tonight. We spent the evening finishing up our packing and got in bed by 10:20 pm.

Let's Pack It Up

Briana had a graduation cook-out in celebration of her accomplishment on Sunday. We spent the majority of the day there other than the time we went to church. The weather has not warmed up like normal this year yet, so the only souls that would brave the pool was the kids. Intermittent rain showers tried to hinder the days events too.

Stroker and I spent Monday running around town and at home attempting to complete more tasks. We both received a text around 9am from church that John Morgan had passed away. We were both a bit confused at first. We thought maybe we read it wrong and that it meant to say his grandmother passed away. I called Debi to find out that the text was correct. John's mother had discovered him early Monday morning. John was only 36 years old. He used to sit with us at Bible study on Wednesday evenings.

Tuesday, May 21st was the last day of school for Brookelynn. Last Friday was Devin's final day. As I picked Brookelynn up in the "car rider" line, she had a look of "Thank goodness it's over" on her face.

To celebrate the last day of 5th grade, Treasure came over for a sleepover. Those girls giggled and ate half the night.
Today, Brookelynn and Treasure finished up the food that was left in the house. We gave Treasure a ride back home that evening. We opted for Logan’s again for dinner before church. When we returned home from church, Stroker took in to packing up for beach.

Ups and Downs

Today was a roller coaster of emotions. Our day started with a celebration at Briana's graduation. We had to be at TTU by 10am. Of course we were running late, but luckily we had seats saved for us.

By 2 pm, we had a funeral to attend. It was a mournful ceremony, but I think Kelly would have been pleased with the sermon, the music and all who gathered to say farewell one last time.
She was laid to rest at Heritage Cemetery in Algood.

Following the burial, we met up with Kelly's family for a dinner that Kelly's aunt's church prepared for the family.

Birthday's and Bereavement

Wednesday, I had a meeting at the high school to determine if Devin would get to graduate next December or if he would have to complete the full year. Turns out, he will lack one credit in December so he will have to attend the full year of his senior year. He is a little bummed because he wanted to get out early, but I'm still not over the fact that my child is going to graduate school next year. Where have eighteen years gone?

We attended church Wednesday evening, right after dinner at Logan's

Thursday, Stroker and I spent the day together tackling more chores at home and abroad the Upper Cumberland. We made a trip to Allon's first thing Thursday morning. Brookelynn went to her gymnastics classes today. While she was there, we put in her thirty day notice. Since she will be cheer-leading next year, we are going to be to crunched for time to fit gymnastics into the schedule.
To end the day, we went to Sparta and met up with my sister at mom's house to celebrate mom's 74th birthday.

Today, Kelly would have turned 30 years old. 

Friday evening was the visitation for Kelly's funeral. Kelly's mom (Connie) said to me "doesn't she look beautiful?" and Kelly did look beautiful. I just couldn't respond because I knew that if I tried to speak, the tears would start flowing and I would not be able to compose myself. I just gave Connie a nod followed by a  hug.

Sadness

Our family is saddened today over the loss of a family member. We received a call this morning that Kelly had been rushed to the hospital because she had stopped breathing. We all poured into the hospital waiting room to cry together. Kelly has fought Lupus for a decade now and today her battle was over. It's not the ending we all hoped to see, but it was the ending that God has had planned since the beginning of time. He had a purpose for Kelly's life and that purpose has been fulfilled so He has called her home. I'm gonna miss Kelly, a lot of us will. Not only does her loss affect us, but it is heartbreaking to think about her having only thirty short years to spend with loved ones here on earth. I find peace in knowing that we will see each other along with many more family members and friends when I get to heaven. Rest in Peace Kelly.

 

Busy Monday

Stroker and I had a lot to do today, but before we began our agenda, we had breakfast together at IHOP.

We dropped the CRV off at Midas to get new brakes installed. I wanted to have it done before we head to the beach in a couple of weeks. We had a guy come over that patched an area on the roof. We finished up some projects around the house and I took Brookelynn to try on cheer camp clothes in the evening.

Mother's Day 2013

To celebrate Mother’s Day, we went to church, where Mildred showed up to join us.

When service was over, we drove to Sparta and took mom to lunch at Casa Luna. Afterword’s, we drove up to the cemetery where her parents are buried so that she could visit with her mom.

 

 In the evening, we met up with Mildred at O’Charley’s and treated her to dinner for Mother’s Day.

Tiffany's Graduation

Stroker had to go into work from 6-10am to help with inventory. The kids and I went to Tiffany's graduation. Stroker picked us up when he got off work and we began our tasks for the day.
We ended the day by celebrating with Tiffany at her graduation cookout.

 

Review of the Week

On Monday, May 6^th, we made yet another trip to Lowes to purchase more grass seed. I am certain that we could have seeded a one hundred acre farm by this point. I think what is happening is that our seed gets washed away by the rain rather than soaking into the soil. We planted two tiny trees today while we were working on the yard. We opted for Logan’s for dinner.

 On Tuesday, we cleaned a bounce house and prepared it for its new home. We had to make another trip to Lowes for bounce house supplies.

Our church held a wedding shower for Debbie Daniels on Wednesday. We took our usual wedding shower gift basket.

Thursday was mostly typical. Brookelynn had gymnastics. Stroker and I went out to dinner at Cheddar’s. Christopher mowed our yard. That part wasn’t typical.

Friday evening, the kids and I went to Chili’s for dinner. That is out of the ordinary. Stroker was tired from the week so he decided to stay home and get ready for bed early.

Sunday

We got up this morning and went to church.

Libby had a birthday party today and we were invited to celebrate with her. 9 years old this year.

I ended the day with a hair appointment. It’s getting pretty long these days

Shelves...Yay!

I spent Thursday at Tennessee Tech working on budget material. I also walked today. Between crunching numbers and walking, I was beat. We had dinner at Zaxby's and then back home to prepare for tomorrow.

We ventured out to find Stroker some new shoes on Friday. Of course Brooke found her a new pair while we were at it. Her feet have taken a growth spert here lately. Turns out that the shoes that she was wearing were 1.5 size too small.
We had dinner at El Tapatio while we watched the rain.

Saturday was a complete wash out. Kevin sent a text and asked if we would like for him to build us some shelves in our trailer. We spent the day in his garage. The rain was cold and steady all day long. We backed the trailer up pretty close to his garage and he went to work on building us some shelves.

Today was Cookeville's Prom. I felt bad for all the prom go-ers for such a yucky day. We had dinner at O'Charley's but we didn't see any fancy couples. I think we were there too early.

She Made It

Cheer tryouts were today. Brookelynn is now an ATMS cheerleader. She is excited. We had a fellowship meal at church this evening and she could not contain herself from chanting her cheer over and over. I have heard the cheer enough that I feel like I could try out for the team.