Post Memorial Day posting

FINALLLLLLY I have time to sit down and look at some pictures and junk! I'm waiting on the plumber to get here to look at our hot water heater. It's a fairly new one, but it doesn't like lightening strikes, especially those close to the house that strike trees!

Lightening struck that tree the other night and every since, our hot water heater has gone crazy.

This morning, Mike's gout flaired up and I, being the dutiful wife I am, was at Wal-Mart at 5am getting him some medicine. He SWEARS Cherry Extract is the bombdiggity of cures, but they didn't have any. So, after some "aisle therapy" there, I went to Wal-Greens to talk to a real pharmacist who happens to work all night long. She told me they didn't carry it either, but to try some Ibuprophen to be taken along with his medicine. OK. So that, along with a chocolate milk should work! We'll see!

This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend. We did our usual stuff, including the service held by the Sons/Daughters of the American Rev. and the Veteran Service Corps. It was a great program!

We were there and Dillon actually got to attend something...(he's usually working)...

Britt was there too and it was SOOO good having her there.

Court sang while an Army Ltc. watched...

Here's another picture of the trio...

And that was it for that! The weather didn't hold out, so it was held in doors, which was nice.

Today is my guitar lesson day...actually, it was yesterday, but I had to work. And then tonight...COURTNEY'S GRADUATION! WOO-HOOOOOOO! and yes, Dad and I will have a zillion pictures!

Have a great day everyone!

Joan

New post

We have been sooooo incredibly busy...my work schedule has been a little crazy and I'm still trying to get this computer settled down since I reloaded windows....

Ash went out to eat the other night and dressed up!

Evidently, Seattle has alot of schmoozy restaurants and she found one!

The first thing her Daddy and I saw was her LONG HAIR! WOW! I believe it may be longer than Court's!

I told her she looked very beautiful and she said she cleans up real well! ha

I haven't been anywhere to take any pics....this past weekend, it has rained nearly every day.

Britt has been going to the tanning bed alot and working out nearly every day. She looks fantabulous and says she feels even better! GO GURL!

This past Friday night, Court was supposed to sing at the Anderson Motor Speedway. She was there, ready to go and the event got cancelled. Yesterday, she sang in church, but I worked. Today, I'm off and she supposed to sing at an outside Memorial Day Celebration service in Greenville and it's POURING and LIGHTENING outside. We'll see what happens!

Everyone is doing great! Court graduates on Wednesday FINALLY! Dad and I WILL be there, with cameras attached, index fingers ready to mash buttons! ha

Have a great day everyone!

Finally!

SO Sorry it's been so long since an update! My computer is back up and running smoothly, our recital is DONE and everyone is healthy and happy.

Here is a video of one of the songs I performed at the recital this past Saturday...

Here is me, Court and Wayne (my teacher)..

and here is Dad!

We were awesome! I was nearly mobbed at the door while trying to get out! My humbleness astounds me! HAAAAAAAAAAA

This past weekend, Harold and Caren, Art, Grandma Terry, Mike's parents, me, Mike and Court all went to church together. Now THAT was a good service with fantastic music. Court sang too, "Come Morning" and it was beautiful with her playing on the guitar and the band backing her up. I've always been amazed at how much musical talent are in the Church of God of Prophecy churches around here...EVERYONE can sing in the most amazing harmony! I LOVE it!

This week, I'm off for a few days!! Court finished up her schooling with graduation being held next week! Britt has been really concentrating on working out alot and is so happy right now!

Ash has been extremely busy out in Washington. Her boat keeps her busy trying to qualify and Seattle keeps her busy with all it has to offer. She's already been to the Seattle Mariner's baseball game!

I will share this picture with ya'll. Her room-mate is also stationed on her boat and they work opposite shifts with 4-day rotations....every 4 days they have to stay on the boat. Her room-mate has a dog...a very BAD dog!

She walked in her apartment after being gone 4 days...her room-mate had only been gone for a short while! WOWWWWWWWW!

Well, that's it for the moment! Have a great day everyone!

Joan

LOST

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time..everything is great! My computer crashed and I had to reload windows and all, WHICH I did successfully. My problem was I had not written down any passwords and I've slowly been reactivating everything.

Mike and I watched the LOST finale last night and MAN was it great! I still have a ton of questions as does half the world, but it was good! The dog in the last scene was the best!

I have a ton to blog about...especially mine and Dad's recital, which we totally dominated! I even heard one audience member say that me and Dad were the best out of our group! WHA??? I couldn't even get out the door afterwards without people MOBBING ME! I have video to put on here and will, but I gotta get to work first! HA

Ashley is doing better than great and is finally enjoying herself out there. I even talk to some of her friends on the phone! They think we're crazy here in the South!

Gotta go get ready for work!

More tomorrow-

Joan

Quick post

I have work today, but I wanted to share with you some pictures I took of Court in her cap and gown. We quickly took these so we could send one of them off for her announcements.

NOOOO, a professional did NOT take these..I DID!

She NEVER wears shoes unless she has too!

Britt was out getting her hair done, so she wasn't here for me to get her pictures.

Here is Court's fav. picture...she actually set it up for me, all I did was expertly press the button on my camera!

That's it for the moment...here is a link to to the rest of the pics we took...

http://picasaweb.google.com/joan29662/CourtsCapAndGown#

Have a great weekend everyone!

Joan

Mothers Day 2010 Cookout and Stuff

I'm now winding down from today's many activities, which included church, eating out at Country Earl's Chomp and Stomp, pickin' and singing at Silkers and then The Cookout at our house. WHEW!

I didn't take pictures in church because it ain't nice to, but I WANTED to and even had my cell phone out to take some, but I didn't want the girls to see me...so I didn't. Besides, all I would have gotten was the back of Art and Harold's heads.

I WILL say that the preacher called all the Mom's down front and we had to line up. LAWDY. I wasn't going to go, but I would have stood out being the only female in the pews. So, I VERY reluctantly went along with Caren, Will, Silker and Grandma Terry.

So, we get in this line and one by one we walk up to the preachers wife holding the mic and introduce ourselves, tell how many kids we have and say something SHORT. S-H-O-R-T. I had my high heels on and wasn't in no kind of mood to stand there long and I was towards the end of the line.

So, after awhile, it got to Grandma Terry, who did great. "I have 6 children and two live in California." Short and sweet. Then, Caren went and told all her children and grand children she has. GREAT.

MY TURN..."My name is Joan and I have 3 daughters of which numbers 1 and 3 are with me today! I also want to say what an honor it is to be here along with my in-laws, Uncle in-laws and Aunt in-laws".

Awwww...I had the audience by their tear glands. They were captivated! I move along, go back to my seat only to be told by HAROLD that I have to go back and stand back up front again. WHA? MY FEEEEEEEEEEEEEET HURT. So, I trudge back down front and the Mom's are still introducing themselves.

LAST in line is Silker. OH geeeeze. At this point my toes have charlie horses and I'm standing at a 45 degree angle, WHICH I cover nicely and you can't tell! Silker finally gets up there and proceeds with a disertation on her children, their names, her grand children...

THEN SHE GRABS THE MICROPHONE FROM THE PREACHERS WIFE AND GOES ON AND ON AND ON AND ON.....

the preachers wife was stunned and my feet were screaming. After about 10 more minutes of praising us, we get to hobble back to our pews. I took my FREAKing SHOES OFF my FREAKing feet and they are now in the trash can. and NO, I didn't get any pictures of any of that.

I KNEW once Silker saw that microphone, it was all over with...pass the offering plates and go on home...OVER WITH.

After that long ordeal, we leave and FLY to Country Earls to jump on the buffet line! WHEW...I'm glad we were one of the first ones there, cause we nearly cleaned them out of fried chicken!

Then, we went back to Silkers and sang and picked and then over to my house.

I know ya'll ain't going to believe it, but we ate AGAIN. I'm actually laughing because we had just eaten earlier and tore the buffet OUT! PLUS, Art ate cabbage at Country Earls and that ain't EVER pretty!

My parents came over too and LOVED the ribs. Mike's ribs are the best!

Harold and Art came over to eat AGAIN too and Harold got his hair shaved off! Actually, he finished another round of Chemo recently and his hair really started falling out, so Caren shaved it off. He looks like Kojak! HAAAAAAAAA

Actually, he looks nice and cool!

Britt was there! She gave me the prettiest flower pot to set outside for Mothers Day!

I KNOW my photo skills are amazing, but these flowers would have looked good even if a cell phone had taken them!

Dad brought some strawberries over the other day...a whole gallon! The girls ate them all in 36 hours! WOW!

Darrell....Harold wanted me to take this next pic for you so Harold could show you that he cleans his plate!

Court and Dillon was there and I didn't get a good pic of them....

Dillon LOVES ribs!

Well, that's it! Hope everyone had a great day and I'm working tomorrow, then off for 3 more days!!!!! LOVE IT!

Joan

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Today is my day! Actually, it's the girls and my boys day to shower love unto me! HA

I think we're going to church this morning, then Court has practice with her cousins to sing in a church in a couple weeks, then we're having ANOTHER cookout at my house. Mike is grilling RIBS! OMGEEEEEEEE! His ribs are the best of the best!

Mom and Dad as well as Mike's parents and the girl's current boyfriends are all coming over. My kinda day!

I'll be taking loads of pictures as usual! Have a great day everyone!

Joan

Nuttin Much...

Since Darrell, Connie and Sonny have returned to California, my photo ops are down to just about zero. SO, back to taking pictures of the girls again! ha

Actually, the other day, we received an invitation to the Sr. Awards Night at Courtney's high school. WHA?!? Say it ain't so!

Sure enough, after Courtney went by the guidance office to make sure the invite wasn't sent out in error, WE WENT! HA

Here is Courtney standing on the front row getting ready to accept her award.

She received the Martin Luther King award. She had actually went to Furman University earlier this year to accept this award and I guess the high school just wanted to double make sure she got it! HA

She was very honored to receive this award, along with some others. She loves to get awards! ha

Anyways, besides that, we haven't taken any pics.

OH...a pair of Robins built a nest in our back porch and they're's eggs in the nest!

Here is "Tammy" as Courtney named her, sitting on her nest.

George, as Courtney calls Daddy Robin, stops by occasionally!

Here are the eggs.

Well, they hatched this past Sunday and all 4 babies are doing well so far. We'll take a picture today when George and Tammy are out looking for food.

That's it for the moment! Hope everyone is well and enjoying the Spring as we are!

More soon!

Joan

FINALLY, a chance to post!!!

WOW! Has things been going a hundred miles an hour around here! Darrell and Connie flew back to California last night and Sonny leaves out today to drive back to California. I have taken so, SO many great pictures that I would love to display them all on here, but I can't! SO, I'll put a few on here and put the link on here for the rest!

I already put a few prom pics on here...Court and Dillon looked fantastic!

The next outing we had was at Oolenoy on a Tuesday night to hear Art's band play.

Darrell and Connie, Sonny, Stan and everyone else was there..

Art and Harold did a song together...

and Sonny...

and Court...

there was dancing..

Here is the only picture I have of deanna and Donna ONLY because Donna won't let me take her picture... everyone had a great time! Here is a link to all those pictures...

http://picasaweb.google.com/joan29662/Oolenoy042010#

Court and Dillon went to see Alan Jackson too!

Here is a picture of just Court I love...

We managed to get all 6 of Grandma Terry's babies together for a great photo taken to yours truely!!!

Here is a pic of Connie and Britt in the kitchen. Britt loved every single moment they shared cooking. Connie shared her recipes with her and Britt created a notebook to keep them in.

Another day we were all together was for another benefit for Harold held in Greenwood. We had a great time (as usual) there!

Here's Britt and Darrell..

Here is a great pic I took of Harold, his daughter Dawn and her BFF, Valorie..

Here is another with Britt and others in the background..

Here is Court's fav. pic of the night..

Here is mine..

Sonny sang..

the girls danced..

Court and Britt danced with their guys..

Here's Caren and Harold's Granddaughter (Dee's daughter) Savannah.

BRITT SANG!!!

Then, the next day, we had a huge cookout and thankfully the weather cooperated!

Here's where the fella's hung out..

and more..

Here's Mike doing his thang..

Here's Gma Terry and Lauren..

Here's family on the back porch..

Here are the children...

Here's Silker, Brenda, Alex and Tanya..

LOVE this picture..

I took a picture of Deanna and her friend, but it was blurry and she wouldn't let me take another, so I didn't.

Of ALLLLL the pictures I took, this next one is my favorite. Court and Dillon sat on the back porch with me and picked and sang for over an hour! It was peaceful and happy! I also took it with my BLACKBERRY TOUR 9630!

I know, incredible. Goes to show you, it's not the camera that makes the great picture, but the photographer! HAAAAAAAA

Here is a link to alllll the pictures I have taken..http://picasaweb.google.com/joan29662

That's alll the pictures...you'll have to sort thru them to find what you want to look at!

I have tons to do today...OH....

**ASHLEY**...we LOVE and MISS you and these past two weeks with the family here would have been perfect with you here. We're very proud of you!!!

Have a great day everyone!!!

Joan