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Monday, June 28, 2010

I'm a blog freak....

...now lets see if I can keep up with them. (OK - this is the second time I'm typing all of this - I should of hit save before I choose to preview it and follow a link!) Other than this blog, I've made 2 more blogs - one for my photography and one for my weight loss journey. The link for my photog blog is Glenn Studios and the link for my weight loss journey blog is Kissin' the Weight Bye Bye. I'd love for you to 'follow' me on both of my adventures. I've actually had the photog blog for a while, I just haven't updated it in quite some time. For my weight loss blog, I've just joined Weight Watchers with my friend Heather and I'm way excited about this new journey I am on. I know I NEED to lose weight to live a longer, healthier life. I know that it's more than just weight loss, that it's going to be a lifestyle change; and I'm excited that my husband is on this journey with me. I'm putting it all in God's hands to help me along the way and I know that by having faith in him, I WILL succeed.

Monday, June 21, 2010

I HEART FACES Photo Challenge

I found this great new website called "I HEART FACES" and have spent practically the entire weekend looking at the website and all the links in it and lurking around on the message boards.  I've been an avid picture taker for a few years now and am excited to have found this website, message board, and group of people so that I can take my picture taking skills to a whole new level.  One thing the group does is have a weekly photo challenge and how excited I was to have discovered that this week's challenge was called "Celebrating Teens".  I knew I had the perfect picture for this week's contest.  This is a picture of my best friend's son and was taken on Saturday while we were "celebrating" his "fourTEENth" birthday.  Happy Birthday Brenton!




Friday, June 18, 2010

The Jessee Reunion 2010

On Saturday, June 12 we had the start-up of what I hope will be many more Jessee Reunion's. 

As a kid, I remember every year going to the Jessee Reunion.  It seemed like such a big event.  It usually lasted about 2 or 3 days.  We always had the reunion at the park in Rockport, so all of our family from Kentucky would travel here and come in early.  Usually the day before, we would all gather at Aunt Nancy's house and have homemade ice cream and fellowship.  Then the second Sunday in June was the big day.  Aunt Nancy was always in charge and my dad was her right-hand man.  LOL!!  That meant, we would always get up early that day and load the truck - we always had the coolers, some lawn chairs, and the horseshoes, and get to the park early to help Aunt Nancy set up the tables and chairs and get the drinks iced down.  Beth and I would always ride in the back of the truck in the lawn chairs, or lay down in the back of dad's pick-em-up truck.  Momma would always come up closer to the start of the reunion cause she was at home cooking.  She always made her yummy chicken and dumplings and green beans.  We looked forward to getting to sign the book - it was a record of everyone that was at each Jessee Reunion.  After eating a HUGE meal, the kids would run out to play on the playground and the men would go out for the horseshoe tournament.  Others would just mingle and sit around and talk.  As the older Jessee's got older, the reunion's came less and less.  We had them every year, then they went to every 5 years, and then eventually stopped. 

At a recent funeral we all decided we should start having them again and set a date.  So this last Saturday, we (me, Shawn, Beth, Tommy and Gavin) drove down to Morgantown, Kentucky to the Charles Black City Park.  Since the majority of those coming to the reunion are from this area, we thought it would be easier for us to drive down there now.  It's only about an hour drive from our house in Newburgh, so it was a nice little drive.  The park was nice, however the reunion was out and the day was HOT and I was miserable.  Next year we have decided to find a place that has air-conditioning.  While there wasn't many people at this (16 total), we hope to have more next year.  We have decided to have it the same day each year and to send out reminder post cards.  Sissy even bought a book to sign - which I completely forgot about until she had us sign it. 

Those present at this Jessee Reunion were me, Shawn, Beth, Tommy and Gavin, Sissy, Bradley, Jessica and Kim and Jessica's little boy Elijah, Billy Herb, Judy Ann, Daryl, Joseph and his wife Jamie and daughter Jordan, Lee and his son Elvis. 

While I planned on getting a group photo that day, it didn't happen.  I think it just got too hot and people kind of came and went.  Next year I will.  Anyways, here are a few pictures taken throughout the day.  We had lots of yummy food and played some cornhole and sat around and talked and listened to Sissy and Jessica play their guitars some.













Monday, June 7, 2010

Grant's Farm

On our way home from Cobblestone, we stopped at Grant's Farm in St. Louis, Missouri.  I had been to Grant's Farm once before, about 12 or 13 years ago.  I remember it was a nice place to go, but that was really about it.  It was free to get in to the Farm, but you did have to pay $11 to park, unless you wanted to walk a million miles away and park for free.  I didn't think $11 was too bad.  You rode a tram around the majority of the farm, but there was a main section that you walked around.  They had some great, active animals and lots of great photo ops.  The weather was warm, but not too hot, and there was plenty of shade that even wearing my three shirts, I never broke a sweat.  We were there about 3 hours and that was plenty of time to see and do everything. 



















Maramec Spring Park

One afternoon of our trip, Steve, Christa, Shawn and I drove out to Meramec Spring Park to visit.  This was a very pretty park with lots of beautiful scenery and history.  The weather was beautiful and was a nice mix of sun and shade to keep us cool.  The only downfall to the day was the fact that I forgot to put the battery back in my good camera and didn't realize it until I stepped out of the van to take the first picture.  I was really bummed.  I did have the little point and shoot camera with me, but these pictures could of been so much better with the Rebel.  There was a historic driving trail we took where we got out and walked through a really old cemetery, there was alot of history noted along the driving trail, and a museum full of lots of information about the park.  There was a cave under the spring and there was tens of thousands of trout to feed.  We will definitely return here next year while we are at Cobblestone.













Vacation is over :(

We were on vacation last week and went to Cobblestone Lodge in Steelville, Missouri. My plan was to blog each day about everything we did, but I didn't get a chance and instead of blogging about each day, I'm going to blog about the vacation in general and then probably blog seperately about a few highlights of the vacation. Cobblestone Lodge is a family-fun resort in the Ozarks in Missouri. Shawn's family has been vacationing there for more than 30 years. There is SO much stuff to do there - every day there is a list of activties. There is always tubing/canoe/float trips, putt-putt, swimming, volleyball, horsehoes, games and cards. Then there was different tourneys - washers, fling 'em, bocce ball, volleyball, shuffleboard. There was also karaoke, bingo, square dancing, teen night, horse racing, talent show. We had three family-style meals per day and dessert with lunch and dinner. We ate way too much food! I know I put on about 10 pounds. Shawn golfed a couple of days - once at Cuba Lakes and once at Sullivan Country Club. I rode with him for the first 9 holes at Sullivan, but then the sun came out and it got hot so I went driving around. We ventured out twice with Steve and Christa - once to a little spring park, and then once to Meramac Springs Park - this park was really, really nice and interesting to tour. Shawn and I even went to a few yard sales on Saturday. The whole town participated in yard sales that weekend. Below are some pictures from around Cobblestone.