The kids

So, one of the highlights of our unexpected visit to BR last weekend was seeing the kids. Carson is getting so big it's unreal. He's talking up a storm and is just the cutest little booger. He still loves his Uncle Bubba (Vance) and Aunt Reesa. He likes to play pretend and get silly in Maranda and my high heels. A new thing he did though when it was time for us to leave was that he stood in front of the door and cried so that we couldn't get out. It made me sad. He told me that he wants to come to Reesa's house and go to the beach. We also got to see Layla, who is now 4 months old. She's beautiful. She's very alert and smiles a lot. Enjoy the pics.

A Midsummer Blog (yeah, I know it’s cheesy)

Well, summer is half over and what a summer it’s been so far. It was all kicked off with one heck of a Memorial Day weekend and we just kind of kept up the pace from there. We’ve had lots of house guests. I love being a hostess.

Thanks to everyone who has visited and enjoyed the beach with us—Maranda, Devaney, Leslie, Jason, Nicole, Brian, Logan, Laura, Barbara, Lisa, Carson, and Corey it was a blast. Special props to Devaney, who made her first solo road trip just to see me and Maranda and Leslie who made the 5 ½ hour drive after Maranda got off of work at Boutin’s and arrived at 3:30 in the morning ready for the beach. And, welcome in advance to everyone who has requested a complimentary reservation at Hotel Baldwin for other dates this summer.

I’ve been working my summer job at the day camp. I can’t complain about getting paid to take kids to the beach. Vance has taken up a new hobby of obsessing about our yard. In fact, I think we’re planting trees in the back yard this week.

Vance and I did manage to take a wonderful vacation to Orlando, San Francisco, and the Livermore Wine Valley. I’m in love with California. We had a great time visiting with Vance’s family in California. They were wonderful. They’ve been right down the road from us in Fort Walton on their vacation so we’ve had the chance of visiting them here too.

For the fourth we were invited to join the Palfreys in Sea Grove for a traditional family 4th of July. It was great. A perfect beach day, great food, great drinks, great friends, great fireworks.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer holds for us.

Gordon Walls

March 5, 1954-July 12, 2007

Anyone who was at our wedding knows who my Uncle Gordon is. You couldn’t miss him. Next to Jason Triplett, he was the one making the biggest spectacle of himself. He looks a lot like my dad and was dancing with anyone who would let him (or by himself). He passed away after his battle with cancer ended on Thursday. Vance and I managed to get into town Thursday night (someone was watching over us and we managed to make it in 5 hours without speeding that much) and the services began on Friday afternoon, with the funeral on Saturday. I don’t want to glorify Uncle Gordon. He didn’t always make the best decisions in life. He died with practically nothing to his name. But, I will say this. He had a huge heart. He was always my favorite out of my dad’s brothers. He could always make me laugh and he would do anything for anyone. He's the one who taught me how to drive a car with a manual transmission after my dad lost his patience and gave up. This is also the man who was so worried about me living on campus when I went to SLU that he gave me his custom made bike so that I wouldn’t have to walk to North Campus. He was just like that. You know that saying “He’d give you the shirt off his back.” Well, he actually would. He has two beautiful and wonderful children (my cousins Jacob and Hope) and ten grandchildren (who are the sweetest kids I’ve ever met). Uncle Gordon may not have had much money or success in life in the traditional sense but he has a lot of people who love him and who will miss him. Please pray for my family during this difficult time. Especially for my Maw Maw and Paw Paw who have just lost a child.