Birthday Fun in Florence

Last weekend we went to Florence to spend some rainy time with my family.  We celebrated Dad and Carrie's birthday's!  It was a great weekend full of wonderful food.  And Dad and Jeff even got to sneak in some golf in between the rain showers!  We girls did a little shopping and of course there was cake.  A fun time as always!

 Morgan "helped" put the candles on the cake

 The birthday kids

Morgan also "helped" blow out the candles!

Morgan's Spring Program

Morgan's school at First Methodist puts on two programs a year.  The first was at Thanksgiving and tonight we had the spring program.  This year all the kids performed patriotic songs in a program called, "One Nation Under God."  It was really sweet!  Morgan had been practicing two of her songs with me so I was surprised to find that they sang a total of six songs!

First, the two year old classes sang "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," "It's a Small World" and "Oh, When the Flag Comes Marching In."  At the end the whole school sang three more songs, "Yankee Doodle," "This Land is Your Land" and "Awesome God."  Then they surprised us with "Party in the USA!"  So much fun!

Morgan did well and remembered some of the motions with songs.  But she sure did look cute!

Whole school ready to go

 Singing her heart out

 

 Morgan and Carsyn are sweet friends

 Morgan and her proud parents!

Relaxing Fun at the Beach

Last weekend Holly, Christina and I spent a few days in Orange Beach.  We were very thankful Mom and Dad let us use the house before they make the official move!  While we were there we got to spend some great time with my Grandma too!  It was a great and relaxing weekend.  We got there on Thursday, ready for two full days on the sand...with no kids!  But mother nature brought the rain and cold on Friday.  What do you do when it rains at the beach?  Go shopping of course!  After some much needed retail therapy, we finally made it to the beach on Saturday.  It was a little chilly which didn't stop Holly nor I from getting some sun!  Christina, on the other hand, just kept putting on more clothes as the day went on...and I wouldn't have it any other way!  After some great seafood meals we headed home.  Thanks girls for keeping me company!!

 Holly and Christina

The view from my chair

A Wedding in Knoxville

Last weekend Jeff and I hit the road again to be at Austin's wedding in Knoxville.  Now, I don't go anywhere near that UT campus unless I have a really good reason.  And the wedding of a childhood friend would be one of them!  We left Morgan in Tupelo for our really quick trip (thanks GaGa!) and enjoyed a 6 hour drive through the mountains with just us.

 

It was an outdoor ceremony on a beautiful day!  We met Mom and Dad there and celebrated with Austin and his wife Katie.  Austin is a Marine and plays in the Marine Corps Band in Washington DC so he had many Marine friends there all dressed in their uniforms.  My favorite part of the reception was the Sword Salute that the Marines did when Austin and Katie entered the room.  So cool!  It was a very quick trip, but a fun one!  And no, all that orange didn't give me a rash...must not have been there long enough!

 Me and Jeff

 Carl, Me, Austin and Ben...we missed you Carrie!

 Mom and Dad

 My favorite part

Mr. and Mrs. Austin Williams

Easter Joy on the Sand

After a snowy weekend in Missouri, I was looking forward to our next weekend at the beach!  This year we all celebrated Easter on the sand.  We were all looking forward to a weekend full of celebrating our Lord, enjoying the sun and eating tons of sea food!  And we succeeded on all accounts!

 

We stayed with Carrie at Mom and Dad's house while Sissy stayed with Grandma.  Saturday the boys found the golf course (surprise) and the girls did a little shopping and lunch on the beach.  That night we all had dinner at one of our favorites!  Sunday, we woke up and Morgan found her Easter Basket to see what the Easter Bunny had left.  And then Mom showed her the dress she made for her.  I don't know which Morgan loved more, the dress or the shoes or purse!  She was beautiful!

 

We all went to Grandma's church to celebrate the reason we were there...a wonderful Easter morning.  Carrie and I were thrilled to sing our favorite Easter hymn, "He Lives"!  After church we had lunch at Grandma's house.  She had already hidden eggs around the house and Morgan had so much fun finding them.  I think she liked the candy and coins inside the eggs the best!

 

After lunch Carrie filled a promise she made to Morgan.  For weeks now, Morgan has been talking about remembering how her Aunt Carrie hid eggs for her last Easter.  One day she realized we would be at the beach and wanted her to hide eggs on the sand.  What a fun idea!  When we called Carrie to ask if she would, Morgan told her we would have to find them fast or the crabs would get them!  Ha!  We finished up our lunch and walked down to the sand where Morgan and Carrie went on their hunt.  It was too sweet!

 

Jeff had to head back home that afternoon, but Morgan and I were able to stay a few more days.  Monday we finally made it to the beach in our bathing suits and got to enjoy the beautiful weather.  I just love that my girl loves the beach as much as I do.  I hope that our new baby loves it too... but I don't think he or she will have much choice!

 

It was hard to leave our warm sun to head back north to the chilly weather in Tupelo, but we'll be back soon!!

 My sweet girl on Easter morning...the Easter Bunny brought her first Barbie!

 Family pic

 Dad, Carrie, Jeff, Grandma, Me, Morgan and Mom

 Morgan and her GG

 Jeff, Me, Morgan and Sissy

 Packe, Morgan and RoRo (please notice the candy shoved in her mouth!) 

 Searching on the sand

Had to have Aunt Carrie help (And her Mommy's sunglasses)

 Aunt Carrie and Morgan

 Playing with Packe on the beach

 Morgan and RoRo

 Digging holes and building castles

Morgan and Me- two happy girls

Fun and Snow in Missouri

Morgan and I made a fun trip to Dexter to visit with the Worley family!  It was a busy weekend full of fun.  We got up there on Friday and on Saturday we hit the ground running.  After an Easter Egg Hunt at Emma Kate's school we went to Belinda's clinic for the Auntie M Fundraiser.  Emma Kate hosts this annual event and the proceeds go her Relay For Life Team for the American Cancer Society.  It's an amazing event that honors Emma Kate's Aunt Marilyn who lost her battle to cancer a few years ago. 

 

Sunday, we woke up to a winter storm warning for St. Louis!  We were so upset because we had gotten the girls tickets to Disney on Ice for that night.  Ben saved us and offered to drive us up there in his truck.  That way we would feel safe and the girls wouldn't be disappointed.  It was

quite the adventure!  Once we got there we had great seats and the girls had a blast!  After the show the snow was coming down even harder.  Morgan has never seen such snow!  She was beside herself with joy!  She would point out everything she saw that had snow on it...and with almost 8" on the ground, EVERYTHING had snow on it!  At dinner Ben threw a snow ball at Morgan and she squealed with delight.  It was a ton of fun watching her enjoy it.

 

We had so much fun that Morgan almost slept the whole way home on Monday!  Again, another wonderful time with the Worley's.

 The girls put on a "show"

Silly girls having fun

 Morgan is a pro at this egg hunting stuff 

 Morgan, Belinda and Emma Kate at the Auntie M project

 Working hard on their creations

 The cousins came over for another egg hunt and dinner

 Emma Kate sang a solo at church on Palm Sunday.  She was amazing!

 Packed in the truck like sardines...here we go!!

Thank you Ben for driving us!

 The snow was crazy! 

 The princesses ready for the show

 Morgan and Mommy

 The show was great!  We all enjoyed it!

 The Worley Family

Me, Morgan, Belinda and Emma Kate