2013 Family Reunion

It was fun to be had by all!  My family: 2 sisters, 1 brother-in-law, 2 children (both married), 2 nieces (1 married), 2 nephews (1 married, 1 engaged) and 1 GREAT nephew had a family reunion in NC.  Last time most of us was all together was 7 years ago at me and my sister's Dad and Mom's funeral in 2006.  A lot has changed in the 7 years...2 divorces, 3 marriages, 1 very recent engagement and the birth of a great nephew.

I have to say we had great eats, great laughs, wonderful conversations, getting to meet each other for the first time, meeting the newest soon to be addition and of course getting to celebrate the 1st birthday of the newest member of our family.  I was remembering past years of my family getting together for holidays, birthdays, vacations, hunting, summer fun, and sad times of past saying goodbye to family that have gone on.  I felt the whole long weekend that Dad & Mom was amongst us, laughing with us and enjoying their children, grandchildren and great grandchild having fun and making memories.

I took 245 pictures, mostly I have to say of my great nephew - he is the cutest little boy!  Such a happy boy, good nature and loves his Grammie, my sister.  Of course my sister just LOVES her grandchild!  So be prepared for a slew of pictures, not much commentary and see the love and fun we had.

   Getting ready for target practice and just having fun shooting guns

my daughter (in-law) Jessica in the fore ground and the newest soon to be niece, Krystal (just got engaged to my youngest nephew, Jesse.

My son, Grant watching...

His turn...

Grant and my niece, Corrie shooting at targets set up...

Don't know if you can see all of the targets that were set up.  There were 2 spinner targets set closer to the shooters, then a target when you hit it would go down, there were 3 and then you hit the far right one and it would re-set the other 3 up.  There were 2 metal targets set up way back, a turkey and ram (some of us thought it looked like an elephant) those were really hard to hit for some us and some of us not so much.

My brother-in-law, Rick - my sister Sandi's husband.  I think he was grinning the whole weekend!  Here he is shooting free hand with no rests or scope.

My daughter, Amanda

My son-in-law, Bryan - Amanda's husband...setting his sites.

Kyle, my niece Cassie's husband (my sister Sandi's daughter) and my son, Grant

Bryan, Ryan (my sister Sandi's son) and Jesse (my sister Leah June's son)

Grandpa Rick and my great nephew Levi - riding the 4 wheeler and having a blast!

Proud Daddy (Kyle) and Levi - Levi was not too happy to be done with his 4 wheeler ride and be taken out of his carrier.

Levi with his Grammie, my sister Sandi

Okay, now for Birthday pictures...there are a lot of them...just enjoy!

Levi with his Aunt Katie, Ryan's wife...

Rub-a-dub Levi in the wash tub...bubbles and toys...boy oh boy what could be better on a hot day?

Oh and we did have lots of good eats too.  We had the usual hot dogs, hot dog sauce, cole slaw, potato salad, chips, lots of beer, country slow boil (with potatoes, corn on the cob, sausage, shrimp, crab legs), taco salad, eggs, bacon, waffles, sausage gravy, biscuits, smoked pork loin, chickens and good appetites.

Kyle manned the hot dogs.  I have to say this was a fantastic family reunion.  We decided that we could do this every 2 years.  The only thing I am sorry about is that we did not get pictures of the nieces and nephews together, their spouses, a whole family picture and so on.  In 2 years we will get those pictures for sure.  It is so much fun to be together and in 2 years to see the changes in the family...hopefully more babies by then and with a marriage not to far off and then hopefully another one in the next few years - who knows what great things to come.  Dad & Mom I know you are proud of your clan.  We love the legacy you left us!!!!

if you want to see more pictures you can go to my son's blog at Warfield Family - est 2008.

Visit with my Son and Daughter-in-law

Okay, I took a long weekend and went to visit my son and his wife in Alabama.  I did not take any pictures, cause I was visiting them.  Yes, I took my camera - but just did not want to take time to take pictures.  I had Friday off from work (my company gave every one the day off) and I took off Monday and Tuesday (today).  It was a long drive there and back but I was able to see the trees get greener and brighter as the day progressed on the drive to their home.  Red Bud trees were beautiful.  I went to the library and checked out 2 audio books and listened to them while I drove.  No, they did not put me to sleep.  It was really nice to be read to.  I could laugh and cry with the book just like I was reading it.  Anyways, I get to my son's home late in the afternoon, it was so nice to see them both.  No, I did not go site seeing, I was there to visit with my son and his wife.  I enjoy being with my family.  We did go for a drive to a fresh fish market and I bought some scallops and lobster tail which we then cooked at home that Saturday evening.  My son also took me to see where he works - which was very interesting.  Then we drove up a mountain and could see the whole valley - it was so beautiful to see.  We watched movies, talked, laughed and enjoyed being together.  My daughter-in-law did take a few pictures, which I am sure she will blog about the weekend also.  The drive back on Monday was long and man, I am so glad I took off today.  My kids go to bed early - I go to bed late, but that was okay.  I have to say, I did sleep in today way past my usual time that I get up - I was totally bushed.  This mom is not as young as she used to be.  I am so glad I went and I will go again.

Spending the day with my sisters - Part 2

I have to show you my middle sister's home that her and my brother-in-law made out of a barn that was on my Dad & Mom's property...it is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath with garage they loving call the Barn Apartment.

this is the front door and that is my vehicle parked in front.  to the right side with the copper roof is my sister's pride and joy - outdoor shower!  I will have pictures a little later...

Here you are as you come in the front door - it is a open floor plan - don't you love the deer head on the wall.  My sister's son (my nephew) shot that deer, and I think it is an 8 pointer (please forgive me if I am wrong).

And yes they do have an inside bathroom ~ just wanted to make sure everyone understood that with an outside shower house they do have indoor plumbing - LOL

this is looking from the kitchen back through the living room to the front door.  I love my sister's colors!

Here you can see the hallway that leads to the 2 bedrooms (across the hall from each other), a pantry and the door at the end leads to the garage. This is where the flower box arrangements were done as shown in the part 1 post.

This shows you from the Barn Apartment's front door the house my Dad & Mom lived in and before them my Mom's parents lived in it.  My Grandpa built the house with the help from family and friends.

And now pictures of the Outdoor Shower House!

This shower head is not a water saving one - when you are under the water it feels like a waterfall! 

Here you are look from the shower part back to the part where you get undressed and dressed after your shower.  If you look up you can see why it is called an outdoor shower house - no walls up at the rafters.  There is screening to keep the birds out but that is all.  there is 1 window as you can see there on the right - opposite the door.

And there is even a sink and mirror - what more could you ask for?

I will putting some more pictures here with just some of the view and other things for you to enjoy...

This you can see out of my sister's kitchen window...she loves feeding the birds...

my brother-in-law...

just some of the country side...It was a beautiful day to spend with my sisters, sun shining, warm around 60+ degrees, birds singing and me and my family enjoying each others company.  Yep, it was a great day!  Oh, I almost forgot...my sister baked me a Birthday Blueberry Pie!!!!  And we had vanilla bean ice cream with it!  Oh, and if you look in one of the inside pictures you will see she also bought me a bouguet of my favorite flowers - DAISIES!!!!

My oh my, I do love pie!  And my sister makes the best pies ~ in all the land!  Thank you Sisters for a lovely day and I love you both bunches, heaps and gobs.

Day spent with my sisters

This past Saturday happened to be my birthday - and my 2 sisters put their heads together and thought it would be nice to spend the day together.  We also decorated the 2 crosses that someone put up where our parents died in an automobile accident  7 years ago.  The crosses get decorated for the seasons and for Holidays.

This was how they were decorated for Christmas.  We 3 sisters had gone on a Fall day trip together and found these large ornaments at a garage sale.  They were big and bright.

this is at my sister's house in her garage - getting everything together to make the new decorations that will be going on the crosses for Spring.

My baby sister starting to put pieces and parts together getting ready for the silk/plastic flowers.  My brother-in-law is in the background - he is always busy doing something while us sisters are doing our thing.
The next few pictures will show the flowers baskets as they are being put together...

The 2 window baskets done and aren't they beautiful?!  The next few pictures will show the assembly of the window baskets to the crosses...

See what I mean by the window boxes - my sister found the fiberglass 6 panes that looks like windows at her Habitat store - how ingenious was that?  Thank you for sharing in our remembering of our Dad & Mom.

Christmas & Family

It has been a while since I last posted to my blog.  And sorry that I am just now getting around to posting about Christmas and my family getting together.  I love holidays if for no other reason than family comes together.  My son and my daughter-in-law came up from Alabama, my daughter and my son-in-law that live close by came over and my sister and her daughter (my niece) came down for Christmas dinner get together.
We all were able to sit around my kitchen table in my new kitchen/dining room - it was glorious.

Here is my sister taste testing before we all sat down to eat. Sorry, but I forgot to get a picture of table before and during our meal - I was just so happy to have so many family members together!

Here is my sister and my niece (her daughter) and I think there are cookies in the picture.

Here is my daughter (sorry, a little out of focus - not used to using my new camera.

My son-in-law and I have no idea what he was doing, but it was funny and everyone was laughing.

My son and daughter-in-law, and we are again laughing and enjoying time together.

we are playing a game at the table, sorry but I don't remember the name of the game..and you will see in the next picture I need help...

Grant was trying not to help too much, but I was playing rather badly and he could not help himself...Smalls your killing me!

My daughter and daughter-in-law were really good sports to be able to wait and be patient with their mom to figure out her next move.  Thanks to my sister for taking some of the pictures (as you can see in the reflection).  It is so good to get family together, from near and far and just reconnect even if for a little while.
I love each and every one of you.  The ones here and states away. NOTHING better than family!