visits with family, bachelorette party & new goodies for Parker!

We're back from a fun trip down South! Parker & I flew in yesterday; Clay was happily awaiting our return! I was pretty zonked all day because of the late nights & wee early morning departure for the airport, but we fixed that by going to an Apple Orchard & having some adventures! Did I mention that when we arrived in MN Parker & I were both dressed in summer clothes & everyone else was in long pants, long sleeve shirts & coats?!?! This always happens...every year I leave for a quick trip & when I return the cold temps have set in for winter! Ugh! It was kinda cute dressing Parker in some of his new fall clothes when we got home though; he looks so handsome in his little carpenter blue jeans! :)

First, a recap on our trip to MS:

Wednesday, my sweet hubbie dropped Parker & me off at the airport to catch a late morning flight out of Minne. Everything went so smoothly that I had to ask myself a few times, "Am I sitting at the wrong gate? Did I actually miss the flight we were supposed to be on?" because it was as sweet & simple as apple pie. Besides looking out over the planes & watching the people work, Parker read this book over & over while we were waiting to board. It's been one of his favorites for awhile now!
When we arrived in Memphis around lunchtime, Granny & Papa, who were kind enough to come pick us up, treated us to Crackerbarrel before heading to Grenada. Parker immediately spotted this basket with lots of trucks & fun boy toys. When we asked him a few minutes later if he could put the toys back in the basket so that we could go eat, he sweetly placed them all back...except one. The yellow digger that was in his pudgy right hand didn't budge. He carefully & discretely put it behind his back as if to hide it from us! ha! Granny couldn't bear the thought of big tears sliding down those little cheeks, so she just waved her hand as we picked Parker up & said, "We'll just buy this one for him; it's not worth the tears!" Parker has been proudly displaying & playing with his little yellow digger ever since. Thank you Granny & Papa. :)

Thursday, we left for Jackson early that morning to see family. Clay's grandmother (aka "Grandmother" to everyone) had had 2 strokes the week before & was at the University Hospital. She is doing much better now...still is weak on her left side, but her speech & cognitive ability are amazing! She is such a strong woman! While we were there, with some assistance, Grandmother stood with her walker, looked around at everyone in the room, spoke with each of us individually & did some therapy exercises. We were all so proud of her. Granddaddy has been such a rock through this all....staying by her side throughout every moment & making sure everything is in order at all times. He is so good at that. In the picture above, Granddaddy was showing off his great-grandson to some friends he had recently met in the hospital.

I think this is the sweetest picture...Parker is sitting in Granddaddy's lap while watching over Grandmother in the bed.

Poppie, Nana & Aunt KK had flown down, so we had a good time visiting with them as well! Later in the day, Aunt KK & Parker had some good playtime, which is evident by the big drool spot on Parker's mouth from laughing so hard! (Do you like Parker's new everyday shoes for fall? Parker does!!! Thank you Grandmother & Granddaddy! Word to the first-time mothers...check your child's shoes often to make sure there is space between the end of the shoe & his toes. I was more embarrassed than you could imagine when we had Parker's feet measured a week ago & he was measuring at a 6 1/2...his current shoe size was a 5...we had checked his feet out about 3-4 weeks prior and they were fine!!! I know... another strike against me for the mother of the year award!)

I am so thankful & glad that we were able to go visit Grandmother; it was so good to see her & Granddaddy. This was the first time I had been in a hospital since visiting Daddy right before he passed away (other than giving birth to Parker which was a whole different experience!) so I ended up being a lot more emotional throughout the whole day than I ever would have guessed. I felt bad because on top of that, I got sick that afternoon & stayed under the weather until the next morning. Yuck. But everyone was, of course, unbelievably sweet & understanding about it. Family is awesome.... (We would appreciate continued prayers for Grandmother & her recovery!)

After a day of hanging out around Grenada, running errands & just relaxing, guess who came to visit us for a little while on Friday afternoon?! Cousin Alyssa & Aunt Kathi! What a fun time we had chatting & playing!

On Saturday the fun begin with Grace's Bachelorette party out at the Gore's cabin at Grenada Lake...here's a group picture at 333 of all of us (for supper)...excuse the poor quality of the photo...I'm just so thankful I got one of all of us!

I already know that when Ashley sees this, she's going to call me & say, "Why the hell did you find it necessary to post this picture of me doing a flying leap on your blog?!" And I'm going to say, "Because it's cute & it tells a story so get over it! But you know I love you!" :)

I drove out to the lake with Ashley pulling her huge boat behind the vehicle...well, after we had spent almost an hour stopping to fill it up with gas & waiting for my bathing suit, towel & pillow that I had forgotten to pack to arrive at the gas station! (Thank you mama!) The road to get to the boat ramp at the lake is one of those curvy, narrow, dirt ones that make you really nervous to drive on (especially when people who aren't carrying monster boats on the back of their vehicle come flying around a corner towards you!) ...so just getting out there without any hiccups was a relief in itself!

Anyway, we got out to the lake & realized a fishing tournament was going on. I was actually really impressed with how Ashley got the boat in the water practically all by herself. I have to say though that it was quite comical. She backs the thing into the water right down the ramp and this little bitty fishing boat backs down right next to us. He had that thing ready to go in a matter of minutes! We, on the other hand, took a tad bit longer! :) I won't get into all the details because I don't know all the technical terms of a boat, but after we did get it in the water Ashley asked me to make sure it didn't float off while she was parking the truck. I snagged this victory picture of her coming down the ramp shortly after. Cute right?!

We drove the boat over to the Gore's cabin (it's the red one to the right of the white house kind of hidden behind some trees...I have a better picture of it close up but I liked how this one showed the lake, the boat launch & the house) This place is perfect for parties & get-togethers! The cabin will sleep about 10 people in beds plus couch space! It also has a terrific view of the lake! It's always fun spending time here!

The soon-to-be bride, Grace! Isn't she adorable?! I love how at any moment I will hold my camera up & she will come up with some fun, great looking pose! I actually got a lot of really cute ones during her lingerie shower & realized that I can't show any of them because her lingerie is in the background of all of them (hanging up on a clothesline for display...so cute!) We can't chance her sweet fiance seeing these now can we?!
Here's a picture of the couple from their engagement party in Grenada! (sorry for the size of it!)

Meagan & Kathryn...love these two...they can always make you laugh about something!

Here's part of the crew on the boat...

Some of the bunch chatting & catching up...you know you're getting older when while everyone else is talking about their work, news, & gossip I'm sharing an update on what my 20 1/2 month old is babbling about! ha! It's fun looking back & reminiscing on old times & then thinking about what we're all doing now...among this bunch we have nurses, accountants, a former Miss Tennessee (that would be Grace), former Miss Georgia, girls in the marketing field, some girls still in school, physical therapists, work-at-home moms (the only 2 moms there!), speech language pathologists, & so many more! ...neat to think about!

We had a good time at dinner with a lot of great laughs!

All of her fun gifts! Micajah, you will like them; we promise! :)

Meredith, sister of the bride-to-be, had this pretty & delicious cake made for the lingerie shower! It not only looked great, but tasted so yummy! Meredith, you did a phenomenal job putting this whole thing together. I know it meant so much to Grace! And how much fun it was having all the girls together!!! Thank you for a great time! Grace, Clay & I wish we could be at the wedding in a couple of weeks; Clay & I wish ya'll the best though & can't wait to see pictures! :)

It's such a blessing to be able to see girlfriends that you have known since before kindergarten & catch up on old times as well as to meet new ones!

This past weekend, we also were excited to get to see Mama Sam & Shorty & Aunt Laurie & Ashland!!! Mama & I made it by a few of our favorite shops (that I seem to have to go by EVERY time we're in G-town...Puddleducks, The Gift Box, & Knicks)

Of course, each time we travel South, we get spoiled with great new things for Parker. When we got home I told Clay he wouldn't believe all the goodies...new shoes, books, clothes, pjs, & even a couple of fun new toys!! Our family is so good to us...ya'll definitely keep Parker looking stylish & make sure that he is dressed for the season! Thank you all so very much!

It's getting late & I've still got quite a "to do" list to work on, so I'll have to post pics from our Apple Orchard fun tomorrow!