Mississippi & My Birthday

We spent last weekend in Columbus, Mississippi at Becca & Grover's. We left Thursday evening so we'd have all of Friday there. The occasion was sweet Emiline's baptism. We had so much fun visiting them in their town. The cousins had lots of time together and the adults had fun hanging out too!
Thursday night, Simms and Lilla were ready for a sleepover in Lilla's room. I couldn't believe Simms stayed in there all night. It was nice..

On Friday, Dru and Cope went and visited Grover at his family's lumber company, McShan Lumber. I think Cope loved it. Here are some pics Grover took of him..


The girls had fun at the house being silly and playing..


Later Friday afternoon Charlie and Anna Crawford came over to play. Simms was excited and shy. Cope loved having a boy around..

Friday night we grilled out. I even had a 30th birthday cupcake and Happy Birthday sung by all..



Dru and Grover turkey hunted bright and early Saturday, came home and got Dr. Donny, then went fishing for the afternoon until we joined them for fishing, a hayride, a bonfire and a fish fry. A FUN day! Although Cope was a little unruly at times waiting to head over to McShan, and spent some time in the back bedroom in timeout..He wanted to be included on the guys adventures too..

Once we made it to the lake, Cope tried fishing for the first time. He wasn't any good. But is any 2 year old? I think Dru was hoping he'd catch some huge fish. He didn't last very long..


It was hard to keep Cope entertained. He wanted in the lake. So Daddy took him for a walk..

Aunt Becca took him for a ride and let him drive..

Lilla and Simms went for a ride with JT (Lilla's great grandfather)and his dog Nicole (you wouldn't believe me if I said she was named after Nicole Ritchie, but she is..there was once a Paris Hilton too..hilarious)

Charlie and Anna Crawford made it for the hay ride!


We had a delicious fish fry beside the bonfire and enjoyed spending time with some of Grover's family!

Sunday we attended Emiline's baptism. I am so glad we could be there for it.

And if you think the invitation is beautiful like I do, wait until you see this real live doll Emiline..

Just gorgeous.

Simms is in love with this baby.And she and her baby brother are getting along so much better these days. Praise the Lord.
We spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon enjoying lunch at Becca and Grover's before making the 6+ hour drive home. It was a great trip. Like I mentioned, I had a birthday. A big one. 30. Wow. Used to think 30 was old and now I don't AT ALL. I used some of my birthday money to buy myself two things I'd been wanting for a while. Yes, I staged this pic so I could get them both in one picture..


This would be the antique candelabra that I'd been eyeing for quite some time. I have no words for how much I love it. AND..volume one of my blog printed into a book! I say volume one because I couldn't have it all printed at one time due to the number of pictures I have. So I have broken it up into two 2-year volumes. I will have volume 2 done at the end of May. Then I hope to do one year books every year after that. I am very pleased with the book. It is a very nice, sturdy hard-bound book with full color pages. So glad to have that taken care of! Here are a few closeups. This first volume, which is June 2008-May 2010, is 286 pages just to give you an idea of the timeline. Volume 2 will be June 2010-May 2012.

The cover is my only fault with the book. I just feel like it could have been "fancier" looking.


Some of the pages.

I feel such relief to have done this. Our blog is truly my only documentation of our family. I did baby books for Simms and Cope, but only up to one year, so this was super important for me to get done!

Rodeo Time!

We spent last weekend in Montgomery for the rodeo. I think I have mentioned before that I've gone to this rodeo every year with Dru since 2002. He likes attending several of the performances, which can get repetitive but we always have such a good time. Simms and Cope had so much fun this year. I was wondering how Cope would do in stadium seating, somewhat up high. Made me nervous to think about. But as you will see in the pictures, Dr. Donny hooked him up with some treats to keep him occupied. Treats he'd never had before, and I know he was wondering why I'd kept these delicious "snacks" from him all of this time. We had a fun weekend and were able to spend time with Dru's parents which the kids loved. This made their 3rd weekend in a row at the Goodwin's house, so they feel right at home.

Watching the Grand Entry. Cope loved every second of that.



Let's go get prizes! Papa treated them, of course! Simms' came in the form of an accessory, while Cope's came in the form of sugar.


(Yes, Muntz,as she has been renamed, made the trip to the Rodeo too)

Cope wondered why it had taken him so long to be introduced to cotton candy.


That's why buddy. You turned blue from the dye. His hands and fingers were still blue Sunday night. Not just from this bag. The treats continued for Mr. Sweet Tooth on Saturday.

Saturday morning they were ready to go back.



It was a beautiful morning. Simms played vet for a while. Or animal surgeries as she was writing out here.


After that we went outside and enjoyed the beautiful morning.





Back to the rodeo we went that afternoon!

Bathroom break at the bus first!

Round 2.

I think so.

Simms loved the popcorn.

Cope discovered another thing he loves. Snowcones. Blue ones at that.


While Simms, who shuns most sweets, still prefers her snowcones like this..

Fine with me.

We had so much fun. Dru just loves the rodeo. He knew several guys competing so it's always fun for him to watch when he knows someone. We enjoyed our weekend! And now we are off again!