Sunday, April 14, 2013 (Overcast, 75 degrees): WOW, what a week! Last weekend was General Conference of the
Church and it was awesome as usual.
Loved the talks and can’t wait to read them in the Ensign magazine. Then Justin, Jessica, Kyleigh and Mason
showed up a day early and the fun really began.
Hopefully I will remember it all and be able to convey my love of all of
it, especially all of my family being here this past weekend.
Sunday evening all of us had a cookout and a nice big fire in the
firepit on our new deck. It was
extremely relaxing and we had fun telling stories. I had a great idea for once and had each of them tell part
of a story with each succeeding person building upon the previous parts. It was hilarious!! Mason was especially funny (i.e. morbid) re:
the big bad wolf coming out of granny’s tummy and eating her. All of us had a good laugh over that one.
Monday, April 8th was my birthday and
was very special. Justin went to work in
the area after going to breakfast with me and meeting the Krystal gang. ;-) Then the rest of us had a big picnic lunch
at Panther Creek State Park and the weather was very nice and we had a
wonderful time. The kids really enjoyed
playing in the playground and where we ate lunch. Mason got over his fear of the slides after
Jessica pulled him down one and after that, there was no stopping him! Ha Ha.
Then later, after playing lots of games in the basement, I took everyone
to Taste of Dandridge and bought everyone dinner. We all had a laugh about that but it reminded
me of when my Dad took everyone out on his birthday and paid for all of it. A little bit of symmetry.
Tuesday was fun as I took everyone, minus Justin who went out on
sales calls again, to Krystal and we had a lot of fun meeting everyone
again. It was funny to watch Mason and
Kyleigh be so incredibly shy when they usually are anything but that. Then we went over to Jo and Gene’s house so
they could see the kids. We had a good
time there as well and then we proceeded over to Pigeon Forge to have lunch at
Buffalo Wild Wings and met Justin there.
The weather was in the low 80’s and sunny so we ate outside and really
enjoyed ourselves. Then after Justin
left, we went to Metcalf Bottom (one of our favorite places to relax in the
Smokies) and walked, talked and threw rocks in the creek. I even showed the kids how to skip rocks
across the water. The first rock went
across the entire creek and Mason said, “Good job Papaw!” :-) We came back and had a nice dinner at home
and watched a few more kid’s movies. I
watched a LOT of those this week.
Wednesday we had a picnic over at Cherokee Park (a city park) and
we weren’t too impressed with it although we still had a good time and the kids
enjoyed being outside and playing in the park.
A shot a few videos of Mason making fun of me and they are
priceless. The first is when he found a
“neck collar” you wear when sitting on a couch, etc to keep your head from
going to far back / forward and without him ever seeing me use it, he grabbed
it and said, “this is Papaw … and starting imitating me snoring!!” It was so funny! Another was of a sound I make and then Mason
tries to imitate which is pretty funny as well.
I also shot a video of both of them putting on some costumes and running
around the corner of my basement to scare me.
Again, another cherished memory.
Later that afternoon, Justin and I went over to WC’s (a wonderful friend
of mine) to do a little shooting. We had
a wonderful time just hanging out together and shooting the breeze. Then later that evening we played UNO and
harassed poor Teresa. We all had a lot
of fun, and precious little sleep.
Thursday was the first rainy day so I continued to babysit and
played a TON of games with the two kids while Teresa and Jessica continued to
get everything ready for the other boys and their families coming and the
birthday party on Saturday. I definitely
had the better deal and I truly appreciate Teresa’s sacrifice. I know she wanted to spend more time with the
grandkids but I also know she really enjoyed being with Jessica so much
again. Teresa loves Jessica like she is
her own and they had a lot of fun together.
After dinner we played UNO again and after getting kids to bed, we
played a new game called Ticket to Ride which was a lot of fun and Teresa won
(I came in last).
Friday Justin took the day off and Travis, Sarah, Landon, Leah and
Delaney got here about 8:30am and met us at Krysal. The kids got along really well all weekend
and I have several nice pictures of them.
Kyle joined us close to 12:30pm at Panther Creek State Park again
for a very breezy and cool picnic luncheon.
But as always, we had a lot of fun and the kids just loved being with
each other and playing together. I still
remember how I used to do that with my cousins in Virginia. When it got to be nap time, we packed up and
went back to the house and then the boys all went out to WC’s again and had an
absolutely wonderful time just being together, teasing each other and just
having a good time telling stories and playing with our toys. ;-)
We were almost gone too long but all of us got some text “reminders” and
so we packed up, went to the store to pick up a few more items, and went home
to home made pizzas. They were
delicious and it was really fun as we sat around and talked about a myriad of
topics and just enjoyed one another’s company again. Of course, there was UNO later as usual
which was fast becoming a family tradition.
Saturday was absolutely beautiful and it was warm and sunny and Erin
came down to join Kyle. Mom, Dad and my
sister Karen came over as well as Jo, Gene and David (Teresa’s brother). Teresa, as usual, outdid herself on my
birthday cake which you can see below. A
few people, when she posted it on Facebook thought it was a real firearm. :-)
She had camo cups, plates, etc.; it was really “way cool” as Mason
said. The cake was chocolate, vanilla
and lemon and it was delicious as always.
We ate way too much but no one really complained too much and everyone
except for our parents competed in the corn hole tournament. This took a good deal of the afternoon to
complete with Justin and Jessica finally winning the couple part and David and
Justin winning the guys versus the girls portion. With all of the sun and fun, and with so few
hours of sleep during the week, I took a few of the kids inside the basement
with me to watch a movie while we waited for dinner to begin. Mason, like most kids being a little nuclear
furnance, sat with me watching TV and before long, we both fell asleep. Teresa took a picture of us and posted it on
Facebook with the following caption which was pretty funny: Looks like Papaw and Mason
have partied out and we haven't even started dinner and games at the fire
pit!!!
Jessica helped me to wake Mason up (since I couldn’t) and all of us
got up and started getting ready for phase II of the party day. Justin and Kyle got the firepit going and we
had hot dogs, chips, fruit and lots of other food which was only the precursor
to the real food, “smores!!”. The kids
really enjoyed toasting marshmallows over the fire and making them but not as
much as they enjoyed eating them. We
were out there till about 10:30pm and the kids had an absolute blast playing
games in the yard. Especially playing in this HUGE box we had
(guess we will have to bring another if we have this get together again next
year). Leah told me she loved the new
house now that we had a firepit and could toast marshmallows. :-) Travis and Sarah left before 10pm and it
broke our hearts to see how devastated Landon and Leah were to have to
leave. They gave everyone super big
hugs and are anxious to come down again real soon they said. I can’t wait as the house now feels / sounds
like a morgue with everyone gone now. It
is now so quiet, it’s actually kind of eerie.
The UNO game between the six of
us (guys versus gals) was a lot of fun and didn’t end until 1:30am. All of us were dead tired by then but the
guys won so that helped. LOL
This was my birthday, Easter, Christmas and every other holiday
wrapped into one! I love my family so
much and I owe so much to Teresa and Jessica for making all of this happen so
flawlessly. I am indeed a very blessed
person. I thank God every day for being
a father. I love each and every one of
them. Thanks to ALL OF YOU for coming; it was indeed a very special treat for us.
She had camo cups, plates, etc.; it was really “way cool” as Mason
said. The cake was chocolate, vanilla
and lemon and it was delicious as always.
We ate way too much but no one really complained too much and everyone
except for our parents competed in the corn hole tournament. This took a good deal of the afternoon to
complete with Justin and Jessica finally winning the couple part and David and
Justin winning the guys versus the girls portion. With all of the sun and fun, and with so few
hours of sleep during the week, I took a few of the kids inside the basement
with me to watch a movie while we waited for dinner to begin. Mason, like most kids being a little nuclear
furnance, sat with me watching TV and before long, we both fell asleep. Teresa took a picture of us and posted it on
Facebook with the following caption which was pretty funny: Looks like Papaw and Mason
have partied out and we haven't even started dinner and games at the fire
pit!!!
