Summertime Madness

Ella came over to spend the night with Brookelynn on Tuesday, June 22. Our plans was to dry the water slide, but once it was inflated, Ella and Brooke decided to play on it until after 9pm.

Those girls were worn out after having stunt class at Power Athletics from 10am - noon and then sliding until we couldn't see in the moonlight.
We had dinner at Mildred's on Wednesday, June 23. We can always count on her for a good home cooked meal.

Brooke had stunt camp day 2 today. She went home with her friend Ella afterwords to spend the night.
I had a training session in Chattanooga all day Wednesday, June 24th. Since they are an hour ahead of us, I had to get up extra early.

It was day 3 for Power Athletics Stunt camp for Brooke. Stroker wired our new utility trailer with lights and Devin had a typical Wednesday.
Stroker threw me for a loop on Thursday, June 24 with his social media post. He also had to go to his cousin Matt's wedding rehearsal.

Darlene and Gary came over for a visit on Friday, June 25th. They wanted us to go out to dinner with them, but we had already ate by the time they came over.

On Saturday, June 26, Brooke and I attended Matt and Michelle's wedding. Stroker was already there when Brooke and I arrived, as he was one of the ushers.

Brooke and I helped in the kitchen afterwords with food preparation. To be honest, I was so impressed with my little girl. She was in that kitchen working her tail off just as much as any adult back there. It makes my heart smile to see how responsible, caring and independent that she is becoming.

As much as I want to keep her as my little girl, I watch in awe and anticipation of seeing what an amazing women she is growing into. Time just won't slow down for me to embrace the moment. She was 3, now she is 13. Devin was 9 and now he is 19. All I did was blink, and now we are here.
We were on to our next celebration on Saturday, June 28. It was Nan's 60th birthday. Of course, I was not prepared. We were scrambling for a card and gift card in between church and the party. We spent the day hanging out with family and laughing at each other because that's how those Hayes' roll.

I finished the day with a hair appointment where I got my roots colored and my ends trimmed. :)

I started off Monday, June 29 with some overdue chores at home. I cleaned both bathrooms...tubs, toilets, sinks and all. I stripped beds, swept the house and basically worked harder than most people do on salary.

I guess I am in the nesting mood these last couple of days. I'm still working around the house. I hung patio lights on Tuesday, June 30.

Stroker and I dug and replanted three shrubs. We finished the night with Brooke and Ella shooting fireworks that we purchased earlier that evening. Ella spent the night at our house. Oh how I love summer!

and Just Like that....June 2015 was over.

Father's Day

After church on Father's Day, June 21, we all headed over to daddy's for our annual dinner. I took daddy another gift card because it exhausts me to try to think of a practical gift that he hasn't already got. He really doesn't care about what we carry in anyway. He just enjoys the visit...and I do too.  My daddy is a wealth of knowledge. I have never asked a question that he didn't have an answer or at least an opinion to.

God is so good to me. He has blessed me with both a momma and a daddy for all these years of my life. I know they won't both be here forever, but every day counts.
I will admit, sometimes I get jealous that no matter how long I have my parents for, my siblings have had them longer. There are many perks to being the youngest, but not having equal time with parents is not one of them. I shouldn't look at it that way, but that is how my brain is wired I guess.

I'm always gonna need my momma and my daddy. And I dread the day that I no longer have them.
Every child needs their parents. That's why Paradise's birthday party this year was bitter/sweet. She turned nine on Father's Day. That is nine birthday's that she has celebrated without her daddy. That is nine Father's Day holiday's that she could not visit her daddy. Of course, he was gone before she took her first breath and she doesn't know life any other way. It just doesn't seem fair, but then again, I am not the One in control. I know there is a far better plan in place for all of our journey's.

It's humbling to me to think of the lifetime I have lived with my daddy by my side. 

It's That Time Again

Verizon really knows how to suck you in...consumers that is. Stroker called me earlier in the day on Tuesday, June 16,  to tell me that Verizon was running a promotion for a free iPhone 6 upgrade. I had no intentions of purchasing another iPhone. I instead was planning to switch to the Samsung Galaxy on my next upgrade, but I fell for their tricky little scheme and upgraded along with Stroker. So now we both have new phones with cool new features to hinder us from any other accomplishments over the next several days.  Uuuggghhh!

We had dinner at Logan's and played with them the entire time. 

See, it has already begun. :/

By midweek, Wednesday, June 17, we had not accomplished much of anything else other than  attending church. 

I had asked Stacia about meeting up with me at Dogwood Park some evening. We decided on Thursday, June 18. Those boys have the best time running through the fountain. I love to watch them splash and listen to them giggle as they try to hold the water back from geysers. It reminds me of when Devin was little. 

Then on Friday, June 19, I had to say farewell to my co-worker Jacquline who landed a new job and left me. Stroker and I  made a trip to Bondecroft Friday evening. 

We celebrated with the Drouillard's on Sturday, June 20. It was Grey's 2nd birthday party.I can't believe that 2 years have already passed since he arrived. 

Seems like only yesterday that I was snapping THESE photos.

Look at him now...running, jumping and talking to the big the kids.

Boy do I feel my age sometimes. ;)

Mid June

It was back to reality on Monday, June 8. Brookelynn had cheer practice first thing that morning. Monday evening brought storms which was pretty relaxing.
Stroker went with our pastor to visit Ray Prussing who is at Vanderbilt Hospital on Tuesday, June 9. Ray's health has been declining progressively this last year. Ray and Stroker always used to give each other a hard time at church over sports. I stayed home and enjoyed quiet time to myself and got a bit of housework done.
We made it to church Wednesday evening, June 10. Yay! We went to dinner afterwords with the Paramore's at Cracker Barrell. We had prayer for Margaret Prussing (Ray's wife) at church. Ray died earlier in the day on Wednesday.
We had dinner with a group from church again on Friday night, June 12, at the Dipsy Doodle. Somehow we seem to end up there a lot.

Saturday, June 12, was the day of Ray's funeral. It was a particularly hot day. Service was graveside..

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The heat of the day really had us drained. 

We were in bed at 8:30 Saturday night. 

You know your life is content when there is no other place that  you would rather be on a Saturday night at 8:30 than in the bed having conversation with your favorite person in the entire world.

After church on Sunday, June 14, I visited mom for a while. It was another HOT day. I don't think mom has even bothered to turn her air conditioner on this year. We told her that she didn't need to be sitting in the heat like that. She promised to turn it on and use it this week.

Bounce, Bounce

We had barely got our vacation bags unpacked at home before Brooke was back to asking us for a trampoline. As if we hadn't spent a week of going, doing, spending..., 

We wound up making a trampoline purchase. 

It seemed as if we couldn't get it assembled fast enough.  I decided to stay away from the assembling portion because I know how it effects our nerves when we try to put stuff together. I let Brooke and her daddy argue that out for a few hours (tehehe). Eventually, the assembly was complete and they both gave it a test run.

I decided to make my one and only "Extreme Couponing" run and stocked up on Coca-Cola and Sprite. (21) 12 packs for a total cost of $4.88

 I felt like I save a million bucks!

We finished off Sunday evening, June 7, sipping sweet tea in the front yard swing.

Aaahhhh...home sweet home. There is nothing better. 

Vacation is great but I would always choose home. 

Beach Bound and Anniversary

We started the First Day of June at the beach.  Gulf Shores Alabama to be specific. We walked in the sand, splashed in the ocean and soaked up some sunshine.

We had dinner at Lambert's Cafe. We have not been there in YEARS. The food is so good and you get to practice your catching skills when they throw the rolls to ya. I missed Devin, because he was with us the last time we were there.

It's affects me that he is a grown up... and has a job... and responsibilities.... 

While we were at Lambert's, Devin called to tell us that part of the tree in the front yard fallen. Seriously! Of all days for it to pick to fall, it pick's the first day of our vacation.  Uugghhh.

He said that he looked out front earlier and everything was fine. 

He went back a while later and the tree was down. 

No wind...no storms...just decided to break and fall.

 Stroker called his brother and had him to stop by and cut it up so it wouldn't be laying in the yard on the fence and truck all week.

The best thing for us was to carry on with vacation plans.

After dinner, we took a stroll along the pier. 

We watched a guy (almost) reel in a 6 foot shark...but his line broke.

On Tuesday, June 2, we started our anniversary by sleeping in until 9am. We went out to set on the beach for about an hour before a storm rolled in. We watched the dark clouds move in and swallowed all bright blue sky until we were left running for cover from the rain. We went back up to our condo and sat on the balcony to watch the lightening and rain make it's way down the coast. It was a beautiful forty-five minute show. I love having ocean front views at the beach. We wouldn't have it any other way. If the amazing view of the ocean doesn't keep you lost in paradise, there is always other entertainment to sit back and enjoy. We like to "people watch", storm watch, and tune into to other's conversations. It's all a great escape from the mundane.

Morgan and I also took a banana boat ride on Tuesday. It's the first time either of us had ever ridden one. We had a fun time out there bouncing across the waves. The driver even took us over to show us an old shipwreck. Thank goodness we didn't have a situation like the JAW"S banana boat ride.

Our umbrella neighbors suggested Bahama Bob's for lunch. it was just a few yards away from our beach umbrella and the food was good.

After heading back to the beach for the afternoon, Brooke and Morgan found a beach crab.

And by this time, the two of them were beginning to look as red as lobsters.

We were pretty much bums all day until time for dinner at Tacky Jacks.

In order to incorporate a little learning into our vacation, I scheduled a twilight tour of Fort Morgan Tuesday evening. There, we explored and learned about the siege of Fort Morgan in 1865. 

It was interesting and a little creepy all at the same time.

We began Wednesday, June 3, just like the day before, with balcony sitting, people watching and lazy mornings. We eventually made it back down to the beach where we parked ourselves underneath our big blue umbrella for the afternoon while Brooke and Morgan toggled between playing in the waves and digging in the sand.

We had dinner Wednesday at "The Hangout". There was tons of stuff to do there while waiting for a table...and it is ocean side too.

We took a sunset sailboat cruise Wednesday evening, which is always our favorite vacation activity. 

It's relaxing, restful and romantic.

Check out our rosy cheeks...we had all been sun-kissed (or sun-burnt) at this point of our vacation..

We stopped on our way back to the condo for some fresh, hot  Krispy Kreme donuts...yum.

We had the best naps ever under our beach umbrella's on Thursday, June 5. 

Brooke and Morgan even gave up on us and went back to the room to hang out at one point. Thank goodness the waves were loud enough to muffle the snoring. It was kinda like this

We drove down to Flora -Bama and bought some boiled peanuts from some sketchy looking guy on the side of the road. Brookelynn recommended getting some because they are "sooo good" she said. 

Stroker and I agreed that we were both grossed out by the first peanut. If I go my entire life without ever having another boiled peanut, I'm totally okay with that.

Brooke and Morgan, on the other hand, ate out entire $10 investment in them. (gag)

We had lunch at a place called Flora-Bama. Just as the name says, it is right on the Florida/Alabama line. The food was really good, you just had to get past the idea that you were eating at a package store.  

Our dinner was quite a bit more family oriented. It was at a place called LuLu's. Parent's were outnumbered there though. There was about 2 kids to every adult. By the time we were seated and served, it was time to call it a day and head back to the condo.