Sunday (10-19)

Scott's mom and Forest were in Nashville with their friends this weekend. They were staying by the Opryland Hotel and asked if we could join them for lunch on Sunday there. We met them and had such a nice lunch. Afterward, we walked around the hotel so they could site see and we let Ford run and run and run.

It was wonderful to get to visit with Grana and Papa Forest for the afternoon and it was wonderful to get to meet their friends!

Saturday

On Saturday, some of our community group friends had mentioned that they were going to go to a pumpkin patch. We decided that sounded like fun so we headed to Walden Farm, located in Smyrna.

It's quite the pumpkin patch. It's a whole little enterprise of pumpkins and entertainment. It was so much fun and perfect for a little guy like Ford (there is also fun stuff for older kids). They had a corn maze for the big kids and a hay maze for the little kids. They had just about any kind of farm animal that you could imagine. There were all kinds of play stations...sand art, Little People barn and tractor tables, tire swings, sand boxes, pedal tractors, hay to climb on. There was even a bluegrass band! Not to mention a consession stand with lunch and all kinds of pumpkin desserts.

It's just the cutest place and the Walden family was so friendly and helpful. We plan on making it a family tradition to go every year!

Okay, I do have to comment on this next picture. Scott went to put the pumpkins in the car and Ford and I stayed behind. While we were waiting for Scott, the bluegrass band starting playing. I didn't say a word and looked and Ford was literally doing a ho-down, elbows up and all!

Late Saturday afternoon, we were invited to The Trusses house. The Trapps and Brandensteins were in Nashville for the weekend and our former community group was able to have a get together. I didn't get pictures of everyone, but here are some of the attendees. Congratulations to the Brandensteins who are expecting their third girl in February! And, congratulations to the Trapps who are adopting a child from Korea (they already have two biological children)! It was wonderful to be able to visit with them even if it was only for a short time. We miss them all very much!

Friday

Friday rolled around and we were out of food and I was out of ideas for dinner. We decided to go to our favorite East Nashville Mexican restaurant, Las Maracas. Ford was amazingly well-behaved for the entire meal! Oh, and just so you'll know, he LOVES guacamole!

Thursday

We have had an action packed last few days. I've decided one post would be too long, so I'm going to break it up into several.

Thursday was a very rainy day, and Mary Ann and Will invited us to come and play at Barnes and Noble book store. They have a train table for the kids and after we played at the mall, Mare invited us over for a little while and was kind enough to feed Ford. It was the perfect way to spend a rainy, fall day! Thanks, Mare!

Carboard Testimonies

An old friend of mine posted this on Facebook and it's so good I wanted to post it here. This video is eight minutes long, but well worth your time!

Hunter's Moon 2008

This weekend we went to Kentucky to spend the weekend with my family...Mom, Dad, Allen, Tiffany, Audrey, Luke and Amelia. Every year, my little town has a Hunter's Moon Festival which consists of a parade, good food, some fun things for the kids to do and lots of candy! Audrey and Ford had a great time doing big kid stuff. The twins were a little under the weather but were REALLY cute and sweet nonetheless. We also got to visit with my Mamaw, aunts, uncles, cousins and old friends. We had a very fun weekend!

We also celebrated Scott's birthday on Saturday. Here he is opening his presents with the help of Ford and Audrey. Happy Birthday, Scott!


Sweet Luke and Amelia:

Audrey and Ford playing with one of MY old toys:

Baby Luke:

Baby Amelia:

Riding ponies:

Ford was more excited about wearing the helmet than riding the pony:

Watching the parade:


My dear friend Shannon and her sweet kids, Keaton and Korbin. Saturday was Shannon's birthday, too!

Ford with cousins Mylee and Lane:

Riding trikes with Papa:

Church on Sunday morning:

Oh, no!

Blue Skies

It's a BEAUTIFUL fall day here in Nashville. I thought it might be a pretty day to take some after pictures of our house. I know I've been promising before and after pictures of the inside, but that will have to wait until I've cleaned it up (which may never happen).

Here is the front of our house shortly after we bought it in April, 2003:
Here it is today, nearly five and a half years later:

Then:
Now:

The front right corner of the house. Notice the large "shrub". It's about six different things growing together in a big mess (only one of which is not a weed). Every year we cut it back and every year it grows back with a vengeance:
Front right corner with the crazy shrub that was cut back recently:

Back right corner of the house in 2003:
Back right corner now. A tree guy suggested a Japanese maple here, so imagine that tree HERE. We haven't done any landscaping yet. We'll get there someday:

View of the side door in 2003:Side door to what is now Scott's office:
The original smokehouse and a really old peach tree to the left:This picture is taken at a slightly different angle, but the tree that's closest is the same peach tree by the smokehouse in the other picture. We had the smokehouse torn down last fall because it was no longer structurally sound (and we couldn't find a purpose for it other than it blocked our view of the backyard): It's almost unbelievable to see how far our renovation has come. At times over the last five+ years, it seemed like we would NEVER see the end of it. We've still got lots to do, but we've made enough progress that it's not nearly as depressing as it used to be!