Toys for Tots

Courtney was invited to the Toys for Tots fund raiser in Dalton, Ga last weekend. I didn't get to go because I had to work, but Mike and his maw went. Believe it or not, Mike actually took some good pictures....but DON'T tell him I said that! Shhhh........

Courtney was one of several people who was able to perform.

I heard it was decorated up real nice too with all the Christmas decorations.

She had a great time...I wish I could have been there.

She's been pretty busy lately singing just about every weekend somewhere. She's finished for the moment now just in time for Christmas.

So, after they returned from Ga on Sunday, I came home sick from work with a stomach virus...WHAT! I won't go into any detail except to say that I don't EVER want to eat a sausage bisquit from Hardees...or anywhere else..ever again!

Then, Tuesday, Courtney, then Ashley, then Brittany all came down with it too and they are STILL home. It's Thursday.

I took Courtney to the Dr. since she came down with it first after me and they prescribed Phenergan...said it would stop the nausea AND make them sleepy. Let me just say that when a Dr. TELLS me to give my three wide-open teenagers something to make them SLEEP...well, I nearly danced all the way to the pharmacy . I had no idea that was LEGAL! My house was so quiet and peaceful and even the dogs were happy while they slept. I like Phenergan...I wonder if the Dr. gave me any refills?!

Well, it didn't last long. So, I better run......more later!

Battle of Canebrake 2006

WHAT is the Battle of Great Cane Brake, I hear you ask! WELL, I took a picture of this sign at the foot of the great battle field.

Again, as we do every year, we attended the Great Battle of Canebrake in Fountain Inn, SC. All I can say is MAN was it COLD. It was in the low 20's when we got there at 10am, but soon warmed up to a balmy 35. Yeah Baby!
Courtney sang the National Anthem, Go Lassie Go and There's a Hero. YES, I took pics, videos etc. Mike and his Dad had went earlier to set up the sound system and there were about 200 people in attendance...200 VERY cold people!


This is Dad....Oh. My. Gosh. To anyone reading this, I am adopted. My true parents are little German people who DON'T WEAR HATS LIKE THIS.
Also, to anyone reading this, if you know of a job for this man, please call me. Part-time, full-time, ANY-time.


There were the usual Revolutionary War reinactors who were fantastic!

Also in attendance was a local high school's color guard. Courtney was checking them ALL out, baby!

Of course, with all the MANY fantastic pictures I take, I often get rather bored with perfection, so I have to spice them up a little. Hence, the black and white photo of Courtney.

I was thinking, in the Revolutionary War, they wouldn't have had colored film...or even film at all, so I took this photo to add to the vintageness of the moment! GOOD, ain't I!

AND lastly, I took this picture of Dad and Courtney. I didn't get any of Mike's Dad...he was busy helping set up with Mike.

Notice how I captured the the sun's rays glowing down on Courtney....THAT was no accident, but rather a carefully executed layout, created by me and God.

Dad will be sending me his pictures this afternoon. I'm sure he had to go home and take a nap first! hee hee...I will add them on here when he does....

DOLLYWOOD!!!

We had the BEST time this past weekend at Pigeon Forge! The weather was great, the people were great and the food was great!

We got there on Saturday, checked into the motel and then went to a dinner theater and saw a play WHILE WE ATE! HOW COOL IS THAT!? We had our pictures made entering there........

Dad really got into it and took TONS of pictures...so I had to take a picture of HIM taking a picture of us! Then after that, we went back to the motel and passed out!

The next morning, Mike and his parents arrived...YEAH! Courtney was excited to get going to Dollywood, so we got ready and headed out.......Dad got him a SEASON PASS to Dollywood...I reckon he and Mom plan on going alot.......... I don't think he and mom plan on going to Splash Country tho!

We all headed to the Chapel where Courtney was to sing, found out where it was, then headed out to EAT AGAIN! MY LORDY! I took several pictures around the park......

Courtney and Mike had gone off back to the van for Courtney to change clothes and warm up, so Britt and Ashley were stuck with me! They don't look like they are suffering any! Dad took alot of pictures of some of what we did, when he emails me those pictures, I'll add them here.

Court sang, " O Holy Night" and because I was busy recording it, I didn't get many pictures of that, but Dad did....this is one picture I did get.....

AND here is the video..I have loads more to send tonight...

From Dollywood 2006

Here we are on a train ride thru Dollywood...Woo Hoo!

Mom and Dad brought their own groceries...we ate so much while there, I'm sure they didn't eat their HEALTHY stuff!

AND, I had to add this picture of the chapel where Courtney sang all lit up at night. ALL of Dollywodd was beautiful, but with the lights and all, it was great!

I have a ton more photo's that I didn't have room on here to add, and here is a link to those pics....http://picasaweb.google.com/JoanBuddy/Dollywood200602

the pics there are mostly what Dad took and added to his web album, but I...uh...BORROWED his pictures for MY blog! hee hee

Thanksgiving 2006

We had SUCH a great day! No one was sick, we all had roofs over our heads, our cars were running, no one was in the hospital or jail and we had aLOT of food to celebrate with!

We started out the day going to my Aunt Aurelia's house in Travelers Rest. There weren't as many people there as usual due to her kids waiting till Christmas to come home from other states.

The kids all cleaned up and ready to eat!

Dad, and I'll have to explain later, has decided to take up the guitar. WHAT! yup. Ain't none of us jumping up and down for joy. I've always felt music was something you're born with and he wasn't. nuff said for the moment. That's Mike holding Dad's, "Guitar for Dummies" book. Obviously he hasn't read it yet.

Here is Mike and Honeybucket (my Uncle Harry's baby)

After finishing up at Aunt Aurelia's house...and I will put more pics on when we get back from Dollywood...we went to Mike's mother's house for their feast! OH MY GOSH was there food. Anyways, here is Ash, Court, Deanna and Savannah (Dee's daughter). I have no idea where Britt was!

Here is Harold holding little Judd Dalton. That's Harold's grandson!

What in the WORLD!? Grandma Terry made her usual cake and something ain't right with it. It was dry as saw dust and looked VERY weird. I didn't eat any of it.

Here is a bung of the eating. From left to right...Dawn's girlfriend Valorie, Dawn, Karen, Harold, Art and Delores's head.

I promise to put more pictures on here when we get back Monday. Courtney is singing at Dollywood tomorrow evening and we are leaving out this morning. You KNOW I will be taking my usual awesome pictures, along with Dad. I will get video too, which I will add on here.

Darrell, I know you read this...you're probley the ONLY one...so I will keep it updated. We all missed you and Connie...her cooking too! She needs to set Grandma Terry straight with her cake making!

Joan

Pre-Thanksgiving Post

WHAT! No PICTURES! Nope! I haven't even TOUCHED my camera in a week! My life has been that busy. Last night, our plumbing in the kitchen sink was backed up all the way to China! Mike and his Dad worked (with my help naturally) until 9pm. THEN the clean up began etc...I went to bed right after all that. Britt helped by holding the dogs back. She was lost with no running water in the kitchen. Come to think of it, I didn't see her during the clean-up phase!!! hee hee
OHHHHHHHHHHH- news to those of ya'll who don't know, Courtney is singing at Dollywood this Sunday for two shows! Courtney is beyond thrilled, especially with the shopping part to find her a dark red sweater to wear on stage. She'll be singing, "O Holy Night", WHICH happens to be one of her better Christmas songs. I have never been to Dollywood during their Christmas season, but I hear it's gorgeous!
I, of course, will be taking MANY pictures Thanksgiving. We will be at my Aunt Aurelia's house at noon to eat, then at Mike's Mom's house by 4:30pm to EAT AGAIN! Gotta love the holidays! I have learned to take a To-Go box with me so there will be NO excuse to enjoy more later!
OH...Ashley is doing a Co-op at the coroner's office right now and got to sit in on an autopsy...she held a guys BRAINS! I told her for that brief moment, she was twice as smart as her normal! BAHHHH-HAAAAAAAAAA Well, I thought it was funny anyways.......
Love everyone-
Joan

Georgia Country and Gospel Music Association Awards

OHHHHHHHHHHHHH my goodness, what a weekend! AND YES, I was there for it all WITH camera in tow! I did my Daddy proud! hee hee

Let me tell ya'll all about it....Courtney was nominated for several awards from the Georgia Country Music Assoc. and we went to the award show this past Saturday night. Mike's Mom went with us minus Ashley, who couldn't get off work, so was unable to go with us. We missed her terribly! Anyways, we all looked so purdy! We smelled good too! Ya'll just wouldn't believe how great especially Brittany looked! She has lost so much weight and her already gorgeous self was TOO gorgeous! I wish the convention center had been better lit to better capture ALL our well-dressed selves!

Anyways, too make a long story short, Courtney won CD of the Year, Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year for Traditional Country. Her CD is Gospel and I'm sure most of you have the CD and/or have heard most of the songs on it.

Here she is with all three of her awards. Understand it was DARK in there, so all these pics were heavily lightened using my natural born photo editing skills I was born with! hee hee

These pictures were taken when Courtney gave her little "thank-ya'll" speech, which she sounded so professional! Had I had my wits about me, I would have switched my camera to video mode and recorded it, but I did good to get these pics!

After she sat down, I took this picture. I think I (with my phenominal photo capturing skills) captured her excitement! Mike's mother was SOOOOOOOO thrilled, I can't tell ya! We all were!

Here we all are...I'm the expert photographer taking the picture...I know, it's a terrible picture. It was so dark in there, I couldn't see what they were doing, but I DID tell them to behave, which they didn't.

Now that I look at it, they look scary! HA!

Here is Courtney on stage with some of the other winners....

T. Graham Brown was the special entertainment for the evening and you KNOW I had to get Courtney's picture with him. A few years ago, Court opened a show for him in Hiawassee, Ga, so she was thrilled to meet him again...

We all had a great time, it was SO beautiful up there, I could actually see myself living there in the mountains!

We had to return to Greenville early this yesterday morning so Courtney could sing at the annul Veteran's Day service at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery that the Veteran Service Corps. puts on every year. It was held at 2pm, so we left Dalton at the crack of dawn, sniff sniff.

(insert pic/video of the service as soon as I download those pictures and videos, which should be this afternoon................)

Somewhere near Chattanooga, TN

We went to Chattanooga, TN yesterday to a festival somewhere in the mountains on a lake! Courtney sang and of COURSE I HAD to capture the moment!
I had forgotten how many shades of orange and red there are, but was reminded yesterday

Courtney and Mike's Mom sang one of my most favorite songs as a duet. I only recorded part of the song due to technical difficulties..........


Here is a great picture of Britt and Court together NOT arguing! hee hee













Here is a video of Courtney singing alot of people's fave song, "I Call it Home". It's a great gospel song.Courtney singing away! We had the best time....

Somewhere near Chattanooga, TN ctd..

Here is a few more pictures taken yesterday...........
This is Deanna and Mike's Grandma Terry. As you can see, we sat on hay bales! VERY comfortable.
This was an AMAZING picture I took of Mike's parents and Grandma! I have no clue what they were doing!!!!!!

Halloween...........

Another Halloween has come and gone. The girls went their own ways...Britt and Ashley went to Michael's mama's house to pass out candy. We don't get trick or treaters! I think on our street, the houses are so far apart and there aren't any children, that we just don't get any! I did run by Michael's mama's house and take a pic of the girls passing out candy...you KNOW I can't pass up a photo op! Although, when I pulled up in their drive way, and the girls saw me with my CAMERA, this look of total horror and disbelief did cross their faces, briefly, to be replaced with "MOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM, oh GEEEEEEEEEZE!" HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I love it! a

I didn't post anything back when Dee and Robin brought their new baby up to see us! I just saw the pictures and I apologize. Dee is Mike's cousin, for those in my family who don't know, and he and his wife had a baby in Sept. His name is Judd Dalton Terry. yup. He is beautiful!










Here is Robin with little Judd.......









Here is a pic of Mike's grandma, Dee, his sister, Dawn and their mother Gin, from California.


Well, I'm off to the hospital now...but NOT to work. I am off to sit with Dad while Mom has a procedure done. WHAT procedure you ask? hee hee I'll give you a hint. She had to drink alot of medicine last night and sat on the commode all night! hee hee She has to have a colonoscopy this morning! AHHHH HAAAA....no, actually, I am very proud of her AND dad for doing this preventative maintainence. It's very important that everyone gets one over the age of 55 especially. I know Mike's family gets theirs regularly as well. yeah family!!!!

Have a great Thursday and I will post later on tonight. I have an amusing tale to tell.
OH...do you think I should take the camera this morning to capture Mom in her duress?!!!! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Sunday Dinner

Well, the herd was hungry and as usual, looked upon me for guidance. They wanted chicken. hmmm...I had a delema..one of the herd is on a diet, one is a vegeterian (I thought we was Baptist!) and the other two don't care. So, I fixed chicken the only way I know how.........









That's right, I FRIED it! HA! Kenny and those FEW of you who I know that just don't understand this...Chickens BEG to be fried and I was more than happy to ease it on in my frying pan!

Then, came the gravy....OH yeah....Dad taught me how to make gravy a long time ago...

Now you can't have fried chicken and gravy without mashed taters..........

AND apple pie!I forgot to mash the sides of the pie down! OOPS!!

AND here we are...Kenny, I wish you were here to enjoy this southern dinner...the flowers you see were sent to Ashley yesterday from her boyfriend, Michael, who is in Iraq.

The Twins

Well, the Twins, Mike and Britt, had to go work at some high society function at Furman today and they had to be dressed up..l.alike haaaaaaaaaaaaaa...as you can see, Britt wasn't thrilled with the duds, but was a good sport..........














Well...since this seems to be a Britt posting...here is a great pic of her I didn't even see before in my extensive, yet impressive photo collection...hee hee..Britt is taking a nurse assistant class at school and this was taken while in class there. I will speak to her later about taking pics while in class! hee

And here is a picture of Britt and "her" dog Cujo. He really is sweet, but no one believes me!

That's it for now!!!!