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.

September 2022

 September was a big month as we got to see the boys over Labor Day and enjoyed the beautiful weather with some outdoor activities, and then celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in Europe!

It is always great to have Thomas and Brennan home!  We usually create a good meal together, hang out with the dogs and the boys talk computers together.  Looking forward to seeing them both this weekend to celebrate David's birthday.

I went on a hike at Yellowwood State Forest with friends.

And David and I took the dogs to Bernheim Forest in Kentucky for an afternoon of hiking.  They LOVE a road trip.

Two of the 3 giants we hike to at Bernheim

The walk out to see the forest canopy

We found our brick on the 1821 Bicentennial Trail that's been expanded downtown Columbus.  They had not even grouted it yet.

Brennan attends events at the art museum in West Lafayette and he heard about a dog event so Bailey got to tag along.  

I understand he did really well at Brennan's apartment and with all the other dogs at the event.

Bailey loves to have his photo taken.  Here he's posing with his bone.

David and I were so lucky to get to go to Europe for our 30th.  We could not have asked for better weather.  We chose to do a Central Europe rail trip of 3 cities along the Danube River.  We flew into Budapest, Hungary for a couple of days.  Then we took the train to Vienna, Austria for 2 days, and then we took the train to Prague, Czech Republic for another couple of days.  It was a really great trip!

Here are a few photos of our time in Budapest.  I really enjoyed seeing this capital city.  It was a lot more modern than I expected it to be.  And just so clean and pretty.

We also enjoyed Vienna.  It had been a very long time since I had been there.  I really didn't remember much.  We toured Schonbrunn Palace and a lot of the old city.  Our hotel was in a newer, more modern part of the city so it was nice to see both sides.  

And then on to Prague.  I think I was most excited to get to know Prague since I've heard such great things.  It measured up for sure!

These are just a FEW of the photos we took.  September is a great time of year to visit Europe!

Happy Fall Y'all!