December 2022

 The themes for December 2022 were celebration and travel, two of my favorite things.

I got to visit my friend Jeanne and her mom Betty in Louisville.  We had lunch and drove through Mega Caverns Christmas experience.  It was a lot of fun.

And I joined my friend Lisa and her mom Elizabeth again, this time in North Georgia to tour Blue Ridge, Dahlonega, and Helen Georgia and their Christmas shops.  Although it was a little drizzly, we had a great time!

Our Wine Club celebrated 100 gatherings and 12 years together.  We had a wine tasting / food pairing at Savory Swine.  It was a wonderful night.

David and I went to see the Wallflowers in concert

And then we celebrated our 30th anniversary!

Our friends surprised us with the sign at the Crump.

We experienced our first Christmas without our moms and it was so good to be with family.  Their absences were deeply felt, though.  

Danielle, Thomas, Brennan, Natalie and Grandpa

Natalie braided my hair :)

We had a great time in Canton with so much of our extended family that we had not seen in awhile.  It was wonderful!

Brennan, Sara Brady, Elizabeth, Taylor, Ellie, and Thomas

The whole family.  I took this one.  So glad Daddy could join us!

The "next generation" including Christopher and Daniel.

Carey, Nina, and their 5 grandchildren - Rhett, Harper, Eliza, Curren, and Jane Marie

Our 2023 graduates - Thomas (IUPUI), Elizabeth (VA Tech), Ellie (Starkville HS)

Then it was on to Tylertown.  We celebrated Christmas at Uncle Zack and Aunt Rosemary's house with 28 family members.  Here are some photos we posed for.

Daddy and his two girls and their families

And our 2023 graduates

Hunter (Natalie's boyfriend) and Natalie - Ridgeland HS

Thomas - IUPUI

Noah - Northview HS

After a delicious lunch and opening our Secret Santa gifts, Uncle Zack and Daddy took us out to the family farm.  Many of the cousins and grandkids got to shoot targets.  We had a great time spending a little extra time together.

David, Brennan, and Uncle Zack

Brennan, Thomas, Noah, Danielle, and Keller

On our way back north, we took an extra couple of days to visit Natchez and Vicksburg, which we really hadn't toured before.  It was nice to spend a little extra time with Thomas and Brennan as well.

Natchez

Vicksburg National Military Park - this is definitely worth seeing.

November 2022

 With the holidays I got a little behind on the blog.  Let me spend today getting caught up!

Thomas and Brennan were home over Thanksgiving and once earlier in the month as well. It's always good to have them home.  And the dogs enjoy it too!

Bailey and Brennan

Remy, Thomas, and Brennan

We had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with the Borowskis and Towsleys.  Our friendships go back about 30 years, when David and Scott were at Ga. Tech together, and when we were all new in our careers at Cummins.  With 7 kids between us, 3 are out of college, 2 are about to graduate, and 1 is going into the Peace Corps next month.  It's fun to get the gang back together.

We also got to celebrate Ginger!  With a Thanksgiving birthday, she doesn't get to celebrate much so we took her out for an afternoon with the ladies.

I joined my friend Lisa and her mom in West Virginia for an overnight trip to the Blenko glass company in Milton, WV.  We had a great time shopping and catching up. 

We stayed in Huntington, WV and toured Marshall University.  This is the site of the memorial to the football players and staff who perished in a plane crash in the early 1970s.

And here I am with very big hair.  Cindy, Laura, and I dreamed up a Dolly Parton party in honor of her latest album that came out - Diamonds & Rhinestones.

We went overboard on the decorations, the hair, and the FUN.  The evening included a choreographed dance that a bunch of us ladies rehearsed with our choreographer friend Rhonda.  Another fun night with friends.

Cindy, Bonnie, and Laura

 Part of the 12 person dancing crew - Brittany, Bonnie, Cindy, Laura, Karen, and Violet

And we joined the Hacks for Trivia at Luciana's one night.  Our success story was one for the trivia books - we started well behind all the other times and came back to win.  Incredible :)  It doesn't hurt that Gene and Laura are educators.