Kyle's Graduation

Ok, the post about our trees will have to wait... we are getting one more tomorrow, so I'll have updated pictures then. :)

Kyle graduated from UTM a few weekends ago, and, naturally, we went to celebrate with him! It was a lot of fun in the big ole town of Martin! ha :) Seriously, we did have a great time and we were excited to share such a big day with him!

I love this picture! :)


This one is pretty fun, too! :)

Kyle and Gran... too cute!

The Jackson side of the family
(notice I opted for flip-flops at this point in the day. My heels are in my purse! :)

The Hamilton/Henson side of the family

Kyle and Mary

Here we are with Kyle and Mary.

Kyle and us :) I love black and white pics!

Here is proof that Toya was there!! :) haha

Eric and I are so aware of how important family time is... I am so glad I got this picture of Eric with his grandpa and his dad. :)

We forced the cap and gown on Warren... also a recent graduate. :)

Oh, and in case you were wondering, there was a hand sanitizing station. :) This was shortly after the Swine Flu epidemic. :) If you know Kyle, you know he probably used half of a bottle while he was there. Any time we were anywhere else, he used my cute little pink bottle of "magic soap" that is in my purse. :)

Congratulations, Kyle! We love you and are very proud of you! :)

Home Sweet Home

There is no place like home. :) While my Mama and Daddy's house in the Sip will always be my home, our house in Tennessee has certainly done well to fill those shoes. I will have to take pictures of the inside of our house, too. I swear we do work in there, too. You know I sweat like a man, so I can only work outside for so long... no matter how much I love it! :)
This is our cute little mailbox. :) I love going out each day to see what flowers have decided to bloom!

This is just the first picture of our garden behind the house. There are some summer bulbs under there that should come out soon. There are also some new calla lilies that are starting to come out... they'll be growing over the windows before long!

This is one corner of our back patio. Eric is a pro at digging up the sod that he spent so much time and money laying down two years ago. I should have him teach me how to do it, but he's so good at it, that I think I'll just let that be his job. :)

The other side of the patio... notice the even spacing and symmetrical placement. :)

After! Love it! :)

Soon the two leafy plants on either side of the lily will be black-eyed susans. I have always wanted to grow them, and we found them at a nursery in Thompson's Station. I can't wait to see them bloom! :)

Kinda dark, but here is what the front garden looked like in early spring. Eric did an awesome job building up the garden and adding the wall. I love it! :)
If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you can see the tulips and daffodils! :) Also, you can see itty bitty green sprouts in front of the bushes. Those are calla lilies. Check out the picture below to see where they are today...

Ta da!! Those big bad callas multiply like crazy! We planted three in each spot last year, and I kid you not... we have at least a hundred of those guys this year! I have already cut out a few bags of bulbs to share with friends (and put in our back garden). If you want some, let me know! :) They are so hearty... they're sun and water lovers, so as long as you keep them moist, they will love the Tennessee (or Mississippi :) weather! :)

The End... for now. :)
(Next will be the "tree" post. :)

Reeeeally Green Thumb

So, here are some close-up pictures to show you where a lot of our time (and money) have gone in the past few weeks (the before and after shots will be in another post). Eric and I are bizarrely into gardening... we love it! Who would have thought that I really would have had fun all those years when my Mama asked me to help her in the garden?? :) Don't worry, Mama. Next time I'm in the Sip, we are gardening! :)
One more thing... after seeing how beautiful flowers can be, I have a very hard time understanding how people can't believe in God! I mean, seriously... no man could create these beautiful things! :)

First we have the Asiatic Lilies. LOVE these guys! I can't get enough of them! The yellow and orange ones are around our mailbox, and the pretty crimson ones are in the front garden. These are perennials, so we will get to enjoy them each spring! :) You can click on any of these pics to make them larger.

Up next: more lilies! The first is a day lily we got this past weekend... isn't it the coolest?! I woke up this morning, and it had opened! :) The middle pic is a day lily, as well. This is actually one of the things we kept from when the house was built. Thanks, Old South! :) ha The last is another variety of day lily that Granny gave to us. These are in the new little gardens behind the house.

Love me some tulips! These were around in the spring. I had so much fun watching them grow! I will definitely put some new bulbs down this fall.

We planted some rhododendrons in the back. They are spring bloomers, so this one bloom is the only one we got to enjoy this year. :( They are still very pretty, though! The leaves on them will be around for a while, but I'll have to wait for the flowers.

These cute things are Dahlias. They look all droopy until they finally bloom... and when they do, they are gorgeous!

This is a flower that is in a pot on our back patio. It is an African daisy (we are very culturally diverse :) and I love it! I don't have very much luck with daisies because of the heat, but this variety seems to do well! :)


Finally, we have some lantana. Love this stuff! It is also in a pot on the back patio... and I think there is one in the front garden, too.

I think I need to look for a support group. I'm addicted.

Stolen

This is the first picture I "stole" from my brother's site. He and Ab had a "Dad's Weekend" and he took some great pictures! She is starting to look so grown up in these pics! :)


This just might be my favorite! She is playing hide and seek. :) She's hiding from Trae. :) Love it.


They went to the petting zoo, too. Any place with animals is a favorite of Abbie's! She can name animals for days! Here, she is telling her Daddy that, "Their tongues are sticky." I love the look on her face! :)


Animal crackers at the petting zoo. Yes, sir.


Sweet girl. This is my new background on my computer! If you don't have a super cute niece like I do, just let me know. I'll be happy to introduce you to Abbie! :)
She will make your world a brighter place, for sure!

Ab's Program

We had the best time visiting Trae, Amber, and Abbie in Knoxville a few weeks ago. Mama came up to see Abbie's program, and we decided to go, too! It was precious... here are a few pictures from the night:

The set designers get an A+! The barn was so cute...

...and the pig was precious!

...and the cow was, too!

Here's Abbie looking around when she first came to the stage.

Here she is when she found us on the front row! Priceless! :)

The two-year-old class

Ab, shaking her eggs!

Quite possibly my favorite picture... the entire school came out for the finale. I don't think they had practiced together yet, and Abbie was quite interested in watching the other kids sing, too! Her teacher kept trying to turn her back around, but Ab still wanted to watch. You'll be happy to know, though, that she never stopped singing! :) She didn't miss a beat!

Taking it all in...

Finally, time to take a bow! Ab and her friend were totally ready! :)