Let the Showers Begin!!

FUN TIMES!! This past weekend began the first of several bridal showers for Sarah. We had two this past Saturday - one in the Ashland area and one in the Bartlett area. The one here was hosted by Cindy Farese and Nina Shoup. What a wonderful time we had - Whits parents - Janice and Bill Stiles both came to visit. Whit, Sarah and Lindsay - Sarah's roommate and MOH were here - as well. What a fun time we had - great food and great friends.

Saturday afternoon the ladies traveled to Memphis and had a shower in the Bartlett area at my brothers. Terry (my sister-in-law) hosted the shower and it was wonderful. Like going back to a reunion - people we had not seen in years - lots of Sarahs friends from school and church and many of my "teacher" friends and church friends were there - it was GREAT!!

Libby and Alyx came to both - they didn't want to miss ANY of the fun. ha ha

Missed having Mom there - she had hip replacement about 2 weeks ago and wasn't able to get down for either of the showers . She's doing great but has to do what the doctors say so that she will be in the "dancin'" mode by wedding time. Can't miss that - right?

On top of having both showers - we were so happy to have Bill and Janice visit us at the lake for the first time. It's too bad that the weather didn't cooperate. Rained the entire time so we weren't able to get out on the water to show them around the lake. Still - we had a great time with them.

Next showers are in Chattanooga in two weeks. It will be fun to meet some of Whits family and friends.

47 days and counting . . . . . . . . . . . .

Springtime

(Side note: These azaleas are over 6 feet tall and cover a HUGE area - hard to tell in the picture)

It's finally Spring - I hesitate to say it too loud - afraid I will scare it off - but yes - I do believe it may be here to stay. Ok - so the fun begins - well - at least for ME.

Last year was AWFUL - I couldn't do anything in the yard - no planting - no cleaning - no raking - no NOTHING!! I did have wonderful friends who came over and planted things FOR me - Mom and Daddy came and raked and cleaned our flower beds while I just SAT THERE watching - WISHING I could do something. The one thing that I was able to do some last year was water plants - which is good I guess because as we all know they don't do so good without water.

Now - this year I have already been hard at it - just finished cleaning out the Hosta garden - nothing really happened with it last year so it was pretty bad - now just need to put down the pine straw - something that is VERY plentiful in Mississippi.

Tuesday I'm going shopping for plants and get busy putting them in pots for the porches. We don't do alot of flower beds here - living on the lake and in the country it is really acceptible to just throw the plants out there and enjoy wherever they come up. Container gardening is a biggie with me - trying new combinations - colors - etc is always fun. Going to a nursery is like going to the toy store for me.

So - just wanted to let you all know that Spring has sprung at the lake - azaleas are blooming - dogwoods are gorgeous and the redbuds this year were the prettiest I've ever seen. Come see it!!

Vacation!!

Ok - I know - it's been a LONG time since I put a post on here but . . . . . . . . . I have no excuses other than I've been busy. Have wanted to say something about our wonderful vacation in January so here goes:

In January '08 we were scheduled to visit St. Lucia with friends - our 4th year in a row - it was iffy if we would be able to go because the doctors hadn't decided what my treatment plan would be and when it would begin. As it worked out - we were able to go and begin treatments the day after we returned. It was a wonderful trip - got some much needed rest and it was very sad leaving because in the back of my mind I wondered if we would ever be back. I was scared to death it was going to be our last vacation.

A year passed - chemo, mastectomy and then radiation - I made it through everything and suddently we're asking outselves - are we going back?? The answer was YES!! This time it was with a different attitude - I had gotten through breast cancer treatment - had survived it and the doctors were saying "YOU ARE CANCER FREE"!!

Upon arriving our driver picked us up - (Moses) and drove us to Villa Beach - when we walked into our cottage - there - hanging over the door were pink balloons and a banner that said "You are a Survivor" Welcome Home!! Needless to say - there were MANY tears and hugs. Such wonderful people there. They had kept up with me all through the year - watching my progress with much interest. We truly felt like we had returned home.

Our time there passed quickly - wish we could have stayed longer - but we'll be back - this time i KNOW IT!!