There went another year!

I'm back! Wow! Just found my blog after 1 1/2 years. Had to call Kristen to see how to even log on to this crazy site again. In case you are wondering where I've been....well....LONG STORY. Shortly after my last blog John and I separated. After 6 months in Nashville by myself I decided it was time to move back to Knoxville to be near my family. What a move it has been. I loved Nashville and my life there but God seems to have had another plan for me. John and I had 23 years together which resulted in the greatest gifts of my life - the twins. Logan and Lauren are about to turn 20 yrs old on June 22! They are the absolute joy of my life.

Not sure what's ahead for me yet but I think God still has an awesome plan for my life. Bring it on Lord!

What a difference a year makes!

Has it been almost a year since my last post!!! A lot has happened since coming home from Chicago last September. Let me figure out how to get around this blog again and I'll start posting again. See ya soon!!

Thanksgiving in Chicago!

I went to visit Lauren in Chicago over Thanksgiving weekend. What a great city to spend the holidays in. Shopping, Shopping, Shopping! The weather turned out to be really good. Great for walking around. Below are a few pics of our weekend.

Thought this was a beautiful site of the river on Michigan Avenue at sunset.

Lauren in front of the MANY theaters in downstown Chicago. She and Dustin

went to see Young Frienkenstein last week.

Lauren working on a project due later in the week.

I'll post more pictures once I get them all off my phone!

Country Music Singer Jamey Johnson

Living in Nashville you occasionally get to see those in the music industry around town. One of our parents at Davidson Academy is actually Jamey Johnson. If you haven't heard his new song "In Color" you need to google him and listen to it. It's great! He just won Song of the Year at the CMA Awards last week. He's got that Hank Williams, Jr/ George Strait type voice....old country! He brought his daughter to school the other day and I took my picture with him. Nice guy!

Guess who flew in from Chicago!

I'm talking on the phone Friday night with my sister and all the sudden I see that Lauren is beeping in on my cell. I told Jane I'd call her right back and switch over to see what's up with my baby girl. She's like "what are you doing mommy?"...I say I was just talking to Aunt Jane what are you doing. She says "I'm with Dustin and we're just hanging out." About that time the dog starts barking and I turn around to see her and Dustin walking through the kitchen door. I scream and she cries! That little stinker flew in from Chicago for the weekend and didn't even tell me she was coming. What a surprise. I was actually planning on going to Knoxville to market so she's really lucky I hadn't left town yet. It turned out great having her ride home with me on Saturday morning to see Logan and the family. We all went out to eat at this great Mexican restaurant Saturday night. We kept the secret going so Logan was just as shocked to see her as I was. Here's a picture of them from the restaurant.

You gotta love 'em. They sure grow up fast. Can't believe they're in college now and off doing their own thing! I miss them so much!!!!

Moving Lauren to Chicago!

Lauren moved to Chicago this weekend! We ended up renting a little Penske truck to move all her stuff. That way I could fly back on Sunday instead of driving back to Nashville by myself. Below are pictures of the big adventure! I picked up the truck at 8:30 am on Thursday hoping to be loaded by 9:30 and on the road....NOT! Here's a picture of Lauren's room the MORNING we are moving her to Chicago for THE NEXT THREE YEARS of her life!!!

BEFORE...

AFTER!What can I say. THANK GOD FOR HER SWEET BOYFRIEND. Dustin came over to help her pack the rest of her things while I ran to get the truck. That is the sweetest guy ever. She is one lucky girl to have him. He went with us to help drive/unload the truck then flew back Friday afternoon. He's awesome!

Lauren and Dustin at this great Thai restaurant we found.
Here are more pictures of the trip and her apartment.

The Sears Tower... The front of her apartment. Super Target is at the end of the block! Can you see it!

Texting "boyfriend"!

At night looking out her living room window. She's on the 15th floor!


GREAT place to eat Chicago deep dish pizza.

Good Luck Baby!

Hiking in the Smokies

Just a few pics from our hike in the Smokies this weekend. We moved Logan into UT on Saturday and Sunday morning headed to the mountains for a hike and a picnic.

24 HRS AND COUNTING!

Where did summer go? It seems the twins just graduated high school a couple of weeks ago and now Logan is leaving for UT in the morning. What a week it's been. God did another "God thing" last night as only He can do. Logan worked all summer saving up money so he wouldn't need to work at UT for a while. As of last weekend he had over a $1000 in the bank. Last night he had $4!!!! He decided Sunday (his last day working at Best Buy before going seasonal until Christmas) he would buy a TV for his dorm room after talking with the other 3 guys he's sharing a suite with. Two of the 3 guys seems great. Not sure about the 3rd yet but maybe he'll be fine once everyone gets there and they actually meet. Logan's been talking to them all on Facebook and they all can't wait to meet. One guy is from Memphis, one is from Canada, and one is from Pikeville, TN (the 3rd guy that they're not sure about!). Anyway, he knows lots of people from high school that's going to be there so I'm sure it will all work out.

About the $4 he has to his name! We've been working all week packing up his room and trying to get his car in order. He had a recall and once at the dealer they said he needed his timing belt changed, and a couple other belts, and "while they're at it" he probably needs to go ahead and get his water pump changed because it's never been changed and it'll be the next thing to "go" probably. Well, all this was going to cost over $500. Logan's heart sank. It would be ALL his money. My car actually needed some work last week at a cost of $401 so John and I were totally broke. Here's where God comes into the picture once again...John is rummaging around the garage and finds a water pump that he had bought for his jeep back in MAY!! He had forgot he even bought it. He never got around to changing it out but we had a little extra money at the time so he went ahead and got it. He comes running in the house last night after we had dropped Logan's car off at the mechanic to at least get the belts changed out and said...."take this back to auto zone and change it out for Logan's". Logan's face lit up and off we went. We get there and the guy says John's was $35.99 BUT Logan's is $69.99. Logan's face dropped to the floor. All I had to my name until pay day on Friday was $20!. I look at Logan and said "sorry baby". We proceed to tell the little guy at Auto Zone that we're trying to get our son to UT and that he only has $4 to his name to get there. The little guy looks at us and says..."come on"....Logan and I look at each other but we follow the guy to the cash register. He looks at Logan and says "You've GOT to go to college!" He overrode the cash register and did an even swap w/John's water pump. Logan is like "dude, are you kidding me. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!" We are about in tears at that point....I KID YOU NOT. The little guy just smiles and says "Good Luck" as we walk out the door. WOW!!! I call John and he starts laughing and crying at the same time. The guy basically gave him a $70 water pump for $36.

You have no idea the circumstances that have transpired over the summer for this kid to get to college. That will be for another post! God is so good. I ran the water pump to our mechanic this morning and Logan's car will be ready this evening. He leaves for UT in the morning!!!! Thank you Jesus!

Continuing on....

Here are a couple of pictures John was able to get of Logan and Lauren on the front row.

Yeah...they just officially graduated! At least John got to see it LIVE. The rest of us can only enjoy the picture!

After graduation we all went to eat at the Marina. By then the rain had ended and we got to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

Grandma was freezing from being so wet at graduation so Grandpa went to the car to get her a sweater. He returned with this! No sweater in the car but he found a shelf liner??!!!?? Who has this just laying in their car. We laughed so hard but Grandma put it around her shoulders anyway. She said it did knock off the chill from the water.

The evening ended with cake and ice cream back at the house. Lauren and I made the cake and she decorated it with the school colors. Good job baby!

Commencement!!!

More pictures...this time from Commencement. What a night!!!! Every year the school holds the ceremonies OUTSIDE on the football field. That way the parents and guests can see all the graduates from the stands. It's really a great setup if weather cooperates!!!! But this year....CAN YOU SAY DOWNPOUR !!! The day started out ok and we were pretty sure the rain would hold off JUST ONE HOUR for us to get through commencement. Here are a few pictures with the grandparents at the house before heading over to school.

(notice the sun shining in the window!)

The kids had to be at school to get lined up by 5:15. Commencement started at 6:00. We didn't hardly get set down til DARK CLOUDS began rolling in. Can you say...BACK UP PLAN! Who doesn't plan a backup plan when you are having an outdoor event in May. I bet we hadn't been sitting 10 minutes until we began to hear THUNDER. The sky began to darken and still we all sat there. Did I mention the twins graduating class is between 350 and 400 students. Thus, LOTS of people were there!

As it began to sprinkle and then RAIN...yes rain...EVERYONE kept waiting for someone to come to the stage and announce SOMETHING...cancel, postpone, move to another venue...something.

I kid you not...every parent, grandparent, and guest sat in the POURING RAIN until 5 minutes til 6:00. 5 MINUTES BEFORE IT WAS ABOUT TO START I TELL YOU! These crazy people even sent the chorus kids out to the METAL bleachers to sing in the pouring rain and thunder. The poor girls were all carrying umbrellas and screaming as only girls can do every time the wind/rain would blow. They were COMPLETELY DRENCHED in five minutes. Right before they were about to sing a teacher FINALLY dismissed everyone and told them to go back to the gym. Some of the kids starting screaming to their parents in the stands...."They just postponed commencement until 7:00". Can you even believe this. Now what! people had been there since before 5:00 just to get good seats and have those video cameras just perfect for this ONCE IN A LIFETIME EVENT!! Here are a few pictures of us sitting in the rain.

Grandpa and Grandma in the RAIN!

Me and Mom huddling under our umbrellas

Did I mention that some people didn't even have an umbrella! This poor family a few rows in front of us looked like drown rats in their Sunday best clothes. I kid you not...you would have thought they had just jumped out of a swimming pool. This poor grandpa in front of me barely had his head under his family's HUGH golf umbrella in front of him. You should of seen the water pouring off that umbrella onto his BACK and down his shirt. All we could do was laugh.

Moving right along....its now a couple of minutes before graduation is suppose to START and suddenly across the loud speaker we hear..."Graduation has now been moved to the gym. Please precede that way". John and I looked at each other and at the same time said ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

Everyone immediately began moving as quickly as possible to the gym....still in the POURING RAIN I must add. Can you say TOTAL KAYOS (not sure if that is spelled right but you get the picture). Never have I ever seen such a mess. Everyone was WET TO THE BONE and were told to cram into a hot gym with no chairs and no organization whatsoever. People were hanging from the railings it was so crowded. People were standing in the middle of the gym floor just trying to get out of the rain outside. Police began TRYING to clear an emergency exit to the doors but people had no where to go. The principal finally got on the speaker and asked everyone to "squeeze" as far to one side of the gym as possible so they could pull out the bottom bleachers so the seniors could march in and set down. The ONLY good thing about this mess was that the graduates had been lined up in the gym the entire time waiting to march onto the field so they were the ONLY ONES DRY!!!

Because so many people were standing on the floor no one could really see anything...except those pressed right up next to the seniors on the floor. John finally pushed his way to the front of the crowd the whole time saying "Excuse me, can I get through to take pictures of my kids on the FRONT ROW....we can't see them from the back of the gym!!!!!" Basically, John was the only one in our family who saw anything. People were talking the entire time and you BARELY heard the students name being called out to recieve their diploma. Here are a few pictures of the TOTAL KAYOS!

to be continued....

Baccalaureate

Sunday the church recognized all seniors during the 10:45 service. Afterwards we had just enough time to grab lunch and get back to church for baccalaureate.

Senior Assembly at HHS

Busy, busy weekend! Friday was Senior Assembly at school and then everyone picked up their cap and gowns. After running home to change clothes the kids then headed to the senior picnic at the lake hosted by the school. One more week until Graduation!

Senior Banquet at Church

Our church hosted a senior banquet for the graduates recently. Logan had to work but Lauren, John and I went. The food was great and they had an awesome chocolate fountain.